Clinical Efficacy of Assisted Hatching with Partial Zona Dissection in Intrauterine Embryo Transfer

Seong, Hyo Sook; Lee, Si Eun; Kim, Jin Ju; Yoon, Sang Ho; Lee, Joon Ho; Ju, Woong; Jee, Byung Chul; Ku, Seung Yup; Suh, Chang Suk; Choi, Young Min; Kim, Jung Gu; Moon, Shin Yong; Kim, Seok Hyun

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical efficacy of assisted hatching (AH) with partial zona dissection (PZD) in intrauterine embryo transfer in the patients who failed more than 2 times with standard IVF-ET protocol (Group R), were more than 37 years old (Group A), or had high basal serum FSH levels more than 15 mIU/ml (Group F).
METHODS
From January, 1998 to June, 2002, 156 cycles of AH with partial zona dissection were performed in 117 infertile patients in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University Hospital. The outcomes of AH were analyzed according to pregnancy rate.
RESULTS
The number of oocytes retrieved after controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) was 8.3 +/- 5.2 in 104 cycles of 75 patients who failed more than 2 times with standard IVF-ET protocol (Group I: Groups R, R+A, R+F, and R+A+F), 7.7 +/- 5.0 in 82 cycles of 67 patients who were more than 37 years old (Group II: Groups A, R+A, A+F, and R+A+F), and 7.2 +/- 4.9 in 38 cycles of 30 patients who had high basal serum FSH levels more than 15 mIU/ml (Group III: Groups F, R+F, A+F, and R+A+F). The number of embryos transferred after AH was 4.1 +/- 1.5 in Group I, 3.7 +/- 1.3 in Group II, and 4.0 +/- 1.7 in Group III. The mean cumulative embryo score (CES) was 81.9 +/- 46.5 in Group I, 75.9 +/- 43.0 in Group II, and 75.7 +/- 40.2 in Group III. There were no significant differences in the numbers of oocytes retrieved, embryos transferred and CES among 3 groups. The overall clinical pregnancy rate was 22.4% (35/156) per cycle and 29.9% (35/117) per patient. The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle and per patient was 18.3% (19/104) and 25.3% (19/75) in Group I, 15.9% (13/82) and 19.4% (13/67) in Group II, and 31.6% (12/38) and 40.0% (12/30) in Group III, and there was a significant difference between Group II and Group III.
CONCLUSION
AH of human embryos with PZD might be promising for the improvement of pregnancy rates, especially in the patients with the past history of repeated failure, old age, or high basal serum FSH level.