ASRM ABSTRACTS: Be careful about the number of embryos you transfer

This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.


You would think that in even a young patient who had two failed IVF cycles it would be safe to transfer more than two embryos to increase the chance of pregnancy without running too much of a risk of multiples. But a study reported at ASRM showed that that assumption is not true.

In women with 2 failed IVF cycles who were under age 35, transfer of 3 embryos did not increase the chance of pregnancy but markedly increased multiple and high order multiple pregnancies. Therefore many experts feel that a maximum of 2 embryos should be transferred in women under age 35.

The results of this study goes along with the current trand to transfer fewer embryos, especially in women under age 35 and the advisability of doing single embryo transfers (eSET) in younger women with a good prognosis.