A new safe embryo transfer technique and its impact on ICSI outcome

ObjectiveTo assess and modify the after load technique of embryo transfer developed by Adrienne et al. [Adrienne BN, James HS, Sasha H, Aidita NJ, Jeffrey LM. Embryo afterloading: a refinement in embryo transfer technique that may increase clinical pregnancy. Fertil Steril 2005;83:710–4] and to study its impact on ICSI outcome.DesignProspective comparative analysis.SettingA private referral IVF center.Patient'sOne hundred and forty-four ICSI–ETs were performed by a single provider and a single embryologist over a 1-year period of time in a private IVF center. Ninety-nine ICSI–ETs were performed as the classic ETs technique and forty-five ICSI–ETs were performed by the external sheath 1st technique.Main outcome measurePrimary outcome: – the degree of presence of mucous and blood in the embryo transfer catheter. Secondary outcome: – clinical pregnancy.ResultsThe average age of all the patients was 30.4±4.3years, with a range of 21–38years. The overall pregnancy rate was 32.6%. The external sheath 1st technique group showed highly significant easy technique and higher clinical pregnancy than the classic technique (P-value=0.0023, 0.0025, respectively), also the external sheath 1st technique showed a significantly lower mucous, blood in the inner sheath catheter and the outer sheath catheter over the classic embryo transfer group.ConclusionExternal sheath 1st-embryo transfer is a refinement of standard ET technique and may improve clinical pregnancy rates by facilitating the ease of embryo transfer.