Abstract
ABSTRACT
Aim
To describe the outcomes for women in Australia who proceed with vitrified oocyte‐thaw (VOT) cycles to achieve pregnancy.
Method
Our descriptive retrospective cohort study of 445 medical and personal VOT cycles over 12 years (2009–2021) at 11 Australian IVF clinics assessed outcomes in oocyte survival, ICSI fertilisation rate, embryo utilisation rate, clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (LBR), using age‐stratified data (≤ 35, 35–39 and ≥ 40 years).
Results
Women were on average 36.8 years of age (range 22–46 years) when undergoing planned oocyte cryopreservation (POC) cycles. Of the 445 VOT cycles, 4276 oocytes were warmed; 91% of oocytes survived and 63.5% fertilised normally. A total of 206 fresh embryo transfers and 253 frozen embryo transfers were performed. CPR per fresh transfer was 28% (58/206) and per frozen transfer was 35% (88/253), while LBR per fresh transfer was 24% (50/206) and per frozen transfer was 23% (57/253). The LBR after fresh transfer per VOT cycle initiated was 11% (50/445) and the LBR for combined fresh and frozen transfers was 23% (107/459) per VOT cycle initiated. Younger women at age of cryopreservation had higher pregnancy rates; LBR from combined fresh and frozen embryo transfers for women ≤ 35 years was 30.2% (38/126), for women 35–39 years was 24.1% (54/220) and for women ≥ 40 years was 14.2% (16/113).
Conclusions
Rates of live birth from medical VOT cycles in Australia are reasonable and decrease as women age. This information can help counsel patients on VOT‐cycle outcomes.