EVALUATION OF THE MECHANISM FOR HIGHER PREGNANCY RATES IN DONOR OOCYTE RECIPIENTS BY COMPARISON OF FRESH WITH FROZEN EMBRYO-TRANSFER PREGNANCY RATES IN A SHARED OOCYTE PROGRAM
Jh. Check et al., EVALUATION OF THE MECHANISM FOR HIGHER PREGNANCY RATES IN DONOR OOCYTE RECIPIENTS BY COMPARISON OF FRESH WITH FROZEN EMBRYO-TRANSFER PREGNANCY RATES IN A SHARED OOCYTE PROGRAM, Human reproduction, 10(11), 1995, pp. 3022-3027
The objective of this study was to determine the mechanism for higher
pregnancy rates in oocyte recipients by comparing the pregnancy rates
following fresh and frozen embryo transfers in a shared oocyte program
me, A prospective study was carried out of 135 matched pairs of donors
and recipients who equally share the donors' pool of oocytes, Recipie
nts were subclassified by ovarian function: 69 were in ovarian failure
and 66 retained ovarian function, A total of 474 standard in-vitro fe
rtilization cycles using the same ovarian stimulation protocol as the
donors were also evaluated, The main outcome measures were the clinica
l pregnancy and implantation rates for donors and recipients following
fresh and frozen embryo transfers, The clinical pregnancy rates per t
ransfer for fresh embryo transfers were 17.5% for donors, 20.4% for re
cipients with ovarian function and 46.3% for recipients in ovarian fai
lure (P < 0.05), The pregnancy rates for frozen embryo transfers were
15.3% for donors, 17.2% for recipients with ovarian function and 23.8%
for recipients in ovarian failure (not significantly different), The
implantation rates for fresh transfers were 7.5% for donors, 8.6% for
recipients with ovarian function and 15.6% for recipients in ovarian f
ailure (P < 0.05); for frozen cycles, the implantation rates were 5.1,
5.2 and 7.1% respectively (not significantly different). When classif
ied by age and ovarian function, the clinical pregnancy rates per tran
sfer for recipients with ovarian function were 14.0% for those aged gr
eater than or equal to 40 and 22.2% for those aged <40 years, For reci
pients in ovarian failure, the pregnancy rates were 33.3% for the olde
r group of women and 39.4% for the younger group, A logistic regressio
n analysis found that ovarian function was the only factor to have an
independent effect on outcome, The demonstration of higher pregnancy a
nd implantation rates in recipients versus donors following fresh embr
yo transfer, despite the use of a common pool of oocytes, strongly sug
gests that the well-known higher fecundity found in recipients is not
predominantly related to the use of better quality oocytes. The demons
tration of an implantation rate twice as high following fresh versus f
rozen embryo transfer in recipients with ovarian failure suggests that
the frozen embryo Is not as hardy as the fresh embryo, Thus, the fact
that both the pregnancy and implantation rates in donors were the sam
e with fresh versus frozen embryo transfer suggests that the ovarian s
timulation regimen has a negative effect on outcome, However, the clea
r demonstration of higher pregnancy rates in recipients with ovarian f
ailure compared with those with ovarian function suggests that, in add
ition, these higher rates may be linked to a superior uterine environm
ent in patients with ovarian failure, Alternatively, the use of gonado
trophin-releasing hormone agonists may have a negative effect on impla
ntation in patients with ovarian function.