Fate of cryopreserved donor embryos.

Objective: To review a center's experience with cryopreserved embryos generated from donor eggs and to analyze their long-term disposition.

Design: Retrospective analysis of donor egg cycles with cryopreserved embryos.

Setting: University-based IVF program.

Patient(s): Eight hundred twenty-nine women undergoing oocyte donation.

Intervention(s): N/A.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Factors affecting the decision regarding disposition of donor frozen embryo transfer (dFET) and the association between fresh and dFET cycles.

Result(s): From January 2000 to December 2004, donor egg recipients underwent 829 fresh embryo transfer cycles that resulted in a 54% live birth rate. Of the 444 recipients who delivered, 177 (40%) also cryopreserved embryos at transfer; however, only 37 (21%) returned for a dFET by August 2009 and only 18 women had children from fresh and frozen transfers. In contrast, 128 of the 385 recipients who failed the fresh transfer (33%) cryopreserved embryos and 111 (87%) returned for a dFET. Of these, 44 had children from the dFET. Frozen cycle success rates between these recipient groups did not depend on fresh cycle outcome or prior parity.

Conclusion(s): Donor oocyte recipients often initiate treatment with a desire to cryopreserve embryos for future use and family expansion. However, our data demonstrates that most recipients with a child from the fresh transfer do not return to use their cryopreserved embryos. Although fresh transfer success correlated with embryo disposition, it did not correlate with the outcome of thawed embryo transfer.