Value of PGT-A when only one or two blastocysts are obtained: propensity-score matching and cost-effectiveness study.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness and cost of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with or without preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) when only one or two blastocysts are obtained.

Methods: A dataset was gathered from 1829 patients including 368 non-PGT-A and 1461 PGT-A cycles with one or two blastocysts obtained, between April 2013 and July 2022. Patients were matched 1:1 by propensity-score matching for maternal age, number of metaphase-II oocytes inseminated and number of blastocysts obtained, achieving a database of 242 patients per group.

Delays in the final stages of fertilization are strongly associated with trichotomous cytokinesis and cleavage arrest.

Purpose: Recent evidence showed that the phase between pronuclear fading and the first cleavage is a perilous bridge connecting the zygote and the embryo. Indeed, delay in the short interval between pronuclear breakdown (PNBD) and the first cytokinesis may result in chromosome segregation errors. We tested the hypothesis that delays in this final phase of fertilization are associated with a detrimental impact on embryo development.

Quantitative Standardized Expansion Assay: An Artificial Intelligence-Powered Morphometric Description of Blastocyst Expansion and Zona Thinning Dynamics.

Artificial intelligence applied to time-lapse microscopy may revolutionize embryo selection in IVF by automating data collection and standardizing the assessments. In this context, blastocyst expansion dynamics, although being associated with reproductive fitness, have been poorly studied. This retrospective study (N = 2184 blastocysts from 786 cycles) exploited both technologies to picture the association between embryo and inner-cell-mass (ICM) area in µm, the ICM/Trophectoderm ratio, and the zona pellucida thickness in µm (zp-T) at sequential blastocyst expansion stages, with (i) euploidy and (ii) live-birth per transfer (N = 548 transfers).

A systematic review and meta-analysis of double trophectoderm biopsy and/or cryopreservation in PGT: balancing the need for a diagnosis against the risk of harm.

Background: To prevent the transfer of embryos affected by monogenic conditions and/or chromosomal defects, preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) requires trophectoderm biopsy and cryopreservation. In 2-6% of biopsies, the diagnosis may be inconclusive due to DNA amplification failure or low-quality results. In these cases, a round of re-warming, re-biopsy, and re-cryopreservation is required to obtain a genetic diagnosis.