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Purpose: In vitro developing embryos may apparently show no developmental progress during 24 h and resume their development up to the blastocyst stage. The present study was conducted to assess their ability to implant and to give rise to a live birth when replaced at day 5 (fresh or vitrified/warmed) as compared to continuously developing embryos., Methods: Embryo development follow-up and grade were prospectively recorded in a photo database. The studied period was from April 2011 to July 2017. The studied embryos included transient arrested embryos (TAE) that showed the same developmental stage at two subsequent observations, i.e. between day 2 and day 3 (d2 and d3), between day 3 and day 4 (d3 and d4) and between day 4 and day 5 (d4 and d5). TAE were compared to continuously developing embryos (CDE). Elective day 5 embryo transfers were performed., Results: Woman age was higher in TAE (34.3±3.9) than in CDE (32.9±4.8) (p<0.01). TAE were more frequently (63.1%) observed after ICSI than after conventional IVF (55.9%) (p<0.01). Implantation rate was reduced in TAE as compared to CDE, after both fresh (10.0% vs 23.8% [p<0.01]) and vitrified/warmed (12.9% vs 19.0% [p<0.01]) embryo transfers. Delivery rate was also lower after the transfer of fresh (8.3% vs 19.4% [p<0.01]) and vitrified/warmed (8.5% vs 14.1% [p<0.01]) TAE as compared to CDE. Implantation and delivery rates were not statistically different whether embryo arrested between day 2 and day 3 (d2 and d3), between day 3 and day 4 (d3 and d4) or between day 4 and day 5 (d4 and d5)., Conclusion: TAE may be considered for transfer at a lower priority than CDE and associated with inferior prognosis than CDE.

Purpose: A retrospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate and compare the prevalence of congenital anomalies in babies and fetuses conceived after four procedures of assisted reproduction technologies (ART)., Methods: The prevalence of congenital anomalies was compared retrospectively between 2750 babies and fetuses conceived between 2001 and 2014 in vitro fertilization with standard insemination (IVF), IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), IVF with frozen embryo transfer (FET-IVF), and ICSI with frozen embryo transfer (FET-ICSI). Congenital anomalies were described according to European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT) classification. The parental backgrounds, biologic parameters, obstetric parameters, and perinatal outcomes were compared between babies and fetuses with and without congenital anomalies. Data were analyzed by the generalized estimating equation., Results: Between 2001 and 2014, a total of 2477 evolutionary pregnancies were notified. Among these pregnancies, 2379 were included in the analysis. One hundred thirty-four babies and fetuses had a congenital anomaly (4.9%). The major prevalences found among the recorded anomalies were congenital heart defects, chromosomal anomalies, and urinary defects. However, the risk of congenital anomalies in babies and fetuses conceived after FET was not increased compared with babies and fetuses conceived after fresh embryo transfer, even when adjusted for confounding factors (p = 0.40)., Conclusions: There is no increased risk of congenital anomalies in babies and fetuses conceived by fresh versus frozen embryo transfer after in vitro fertilization with and without micromanipulation. Indeed, distribution of congenital anomalies found in our population is consistent with the high prevalence of congenital heart defects, chromosomal anomalies, and urinary defects that have been found by other authors in children conceived by infertile couples when compared to children conceived spontaneously.

Purpose: The study aims to describe the newborn health parameters of the 50 first children conceived after autologous oocyte vitrification in France., Methods: The 50 children born after autologous oocyte vitrification/warming cycle (VAO children) have been retrospectively compared with 364 children conceived by micromanipulation using freshly recovered non-vitrified oocytes (ICSI children). Children included in the study were born between 2011 and 2015. Maternal characteristics (age, body mass index, smoking habits), obstetric outcomes (diabetes, hypertension, placenta previa, parity, mode of delivery), and perinatal outcome (twinning, sex, birth weight, macrosomia, birth defects) were analyzed. The generalized estimating equation for correlated data was performed to evaluate perinatal outcomes and caesarean section., Results: No statistically significant difference was found between VAO children and ICSI children, even after adjusting confounding factors (low birth weigh odds ratio (OR) 0.8, 95 % confident interval (CI) 0.3-2.2, adjusted (AOR) 0.5, 95 % CI 0.2-1.7; large for gestational age OR 1.5, 95 % CI 0.3-7.0, AOR 1.6, 95 % CI 0.3-7.5; birth defects OR 0.4, 95 % CI 0.1-3.2, AOR 0.5, 95 % CI 0.1-3.7; caesarean section OR 1.8, 95 % CI 0.9-3.4, AOR 1.8, 95 % CI 0.9-3.7)., Conclusions: According to our results, newborn health parameters of children conceived in our center by micromanipulation using vitrified/warmed autologous oocytes seem not to be different from children born after micromanipulation on freshly recovered oocytes.

Purpose: Oocyte vitrification is a worldwide used technique that has proved its worth. Although it was shown not to alter oocyte integrity, a recent study concluded that it may affect oocyte embryo development. As the morphology and kinetics of embryos derived from sibling fresh and vitrified oocytes have not been described previously, the present study evaluates cleavage rate, blastomeres size, fragmentation rate, and blastocyst formation in vitrified/warmed oocyte derived embryos (VODE) as compared with sibling fresh oocytes derived embryos (FODE)., Methods: This investigation included 90 infertility cases displaying large cohort of mature oocytes at pick up, divided into 2 groups after denudation. A part of oocytes underwent ICSI while others were vitrified. Oocyte warming cycles were performed when no pregnancy was achieved using fresh eggs. Zygote to blastocyst development was recorded prospectively in an image database up to day 5., Results: VODE did not show major difference as compared with FODE in terms of cleavage rate, number of blastomeres, fragmentation rate, and blastomeres size. Furthermore, percentage of morulae at day 4 and blastocysts at day 5 are not affected by oocyte vitrification., Conclusion: Although our results show that embryo development is not altered by oocyte vitrification, offspring follow-up is essential to exclude any adverse developmental effect of the technique.