Recent studies have suggested that the hydrosalpinx has a negative effect on pregnancy outcome, with markedly diminished implantation and increased early pregnancy loss. Fluid from the hydrosalpinx may leak into and accumulate in the uterine cavity. It is not clear, however if this creates a hostile local environment in the uterus for embryo implantation or exerts a direct embryotoxic effect. T...

Summer heat stress decreases the pregnancy rate in cattle and has been thought to be associated with the early embryonic death caused by the elevation of maternal body temperature. In vitro cultures have been widely used for the evaluation of effects of heat stress on oocytes, fertilization, preimplantation, and embryonic development. Susceptibility to heat stress is present in developmental st...

Embryo donation has drawn increasing attention as an alternative to using frozen embryos for stem cell research and as a method of providing infertile couples with an opportunity to realize their goal of becoming parents. Although embryo donation offers significant advantages for recipient (“adoptive”) couples, it is unclear what would happen if a couple who had adopted frozen embryos subsequen...

Cryopreservation methods using liquid nitrogen (LN(2)) for gametes and embryos are prevalent in mammalian artificial reproduction. However, the pregnancy rate from frozen embryos has not improved over the past two decades because freeze-thawing causes significant damage. The strict regulation of transportation of LN(2) containers by airlines also limits exchange between breeders. In this articl...

BACKGROUND The main reason for adverse treatment outcome in assisted reproduction is the high rate of multiple pregnancies. The only strategy to avoid dizygotic twins is to transfer one embryo at a time. METHODS A total of 144 women, who had had at least four good quality embryos available after IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and who had no more than one previous failed treatment...

Currently, controlled ovarian hyperstimulation protocols commonly provide embryos in excess of those needed for fresh transfer. Therefore, techniques have been developed to store these surplus embryos in liquid nitrogen (referred to as cryopreservation) for an indefinite period of time without significant compromise of their quality. Based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Successful egg cryopreservation has many potential benefits to a variety of patients. However, a superior standard protocol describing all aspects of oocyte cryopreservation has not yet been identified. Oocyte cryopreservation is still a technical challenge for many infertility clinics. To maintain satisfactory clinical outcomes, there is a need to develop an easy to us...

The widespread abandonment of frozen embryos by the gamete providers or intentional parents urgently demands a solution. Most centres react by requiring patients to enter a prior agreement governing the future disposition of their embryos in all foreseeable circumstances. These dispositional directives are inappropriate and self defeating in the event of contingencies in which the patients rema...

Objective Women undergoing IVF cycles should go successfully through multiple points during the procedure (i.e., implantation, clinical pregnancy, no spontaneous abortion and delivery) to achieve live births. On the other there is a need to consider previous reproductive outcomes and as well as the current cycle. In this study, data on multiple cycles and multiple points during the IVF cycle ar...