OBSTETRIC AND PERINATAL OUTCOME OF CHILDREN CONCEIVED FROM CRYOPRESERVED EMBRYOS

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the obstetric and neona tal outcome of children conceived from cryopreserved embryos, The medi cal records of 270 infants (163 singletons, 98 twins and nine triplets ) were reviewed and compared with two control populations of children born after in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with fresh embryos and childre n born after spontaneous pregnancies, The controls were matched accord ing to maternal age, parity, plurality and date of delivery. In the cr yopreserved group the gestational age at delivery for singletons was 2 79 +/- 13 days with birthweight 3476 +/- 616 g; for twins gestational age was 257 +/- 19 days with birthweight 2574 +/- 560 g; for triplets gestational age was 228 +/- 3 days with birthweight 1752 +/- 183 g, Th e incidence of preterm birth (<37 weeks gestation) was 5.6% for single tons, 44.9% for twins and 100% for triplets, Seven children had major malformations (2.7%) and perinatal mortality occurred in two children (8 parts per thousand), Gestational age at delivery, birthweight, the incidence of malformations and the perinatal mortality were comparable with the two control groups both for singletons and twins. Significan tly more singletons in the cryopreserved group were delivered by Caesa rean section compared with the spontaneous group, The number of infant s with low Apgar score (<7 at 5 min) and the number of infants admitte d to neonatal intensive care units were similar in the cryopreserved a nd spontaneous groups. In conclusion, the cryopreservation process did not seem to adversely influence fetal development and no increased pe rinatal risk was found.