Outcome of in vitro fertilization treatment in patients who electively inseminate a limited number of oocytes to avoid creating surplus human embryos for cryopreservation.

Objective: To determine whether the outcome of IVF treatment in patients who electively inseminate a limited number of oocytes is comparable to that in a group of good-prognostic or poor-prognostic patients.

Design: Retrospective clinical study.

Setting: University-based tertiary fertility center.

Patient(s): Two hundred three women under the age of 40 years.

Intervention(s): Patients undergoing their first cycle of IVF who elected to have no more than four oocytes inseminated (study group) or who produced only four or fewer oocytes (poor-prognostic group) or who had excess embryos cryopreserved (good-prognostic group).

Main Outcome Measure(s): Implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and ongoing pregnancy rate.

Result(s): There were no significant differences in the implantation rate for the study group when compared with the good-prognostic group or the poor-prognostic group. The clinical pregnancy rate (62.5% vs. 64%) and ongoing-pregnancy or birth rate (56.3% vs. 60.7%) were similar between the study group and the good-prognostic group. However, the clinical pregnancy rate (62.5% vs. 29.7%) and ongoing-pregnancy rate (56.3% vs. 24.3%) were higher in the study group compared with the poor-prognostic group.

Conclusion(s): Inseminating fewer oocytes in patients who elect not to cryopreserve excess embryos does not adversely affect their probability of conception.