A high-tech closer look to evaluate the impact of oocyte vitrification on embryo quality

A high-tech closer look to evaluate the impact of oocyte vitrification on embryo quality
From the early times of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), a great effort has been put into introducing and optimizing laboratory procedures for best gamete and embryo handling. In recent years, a simple although highly effective cryopreservation procedure for human oocytes, called vitrification (ultra-rapid freezing), has been implemented. A report by Kuwayama et al. (1) published in 2005, summarized the study done in a cohort of 64 vitrified human oocytes that revealed over 91% normal cell morphology after oocyte warming, an 89.7% fertilization rate after intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a 61.5% embryonic development to the blastocyst stage in vitro, and a total of 12 initial pregnancies, 7 healthy babies and 3 ongoing pregnancies after 29 embryo transfers (2.2 vitrified-embryos per transfer).
Source: fertstert.org