Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology (Oct 2017)

Dichorionic triplets following frozen-thawed poor-stage embryo transfer: a report of two cases and a review

  • Atsushi Yanaihara,
  • Shirei Ohgi,
  • Kenichirou Motomura,
  • Ryoma Taniguchi,
  • Shota Hatakeyama,
  • Takumi Yanaihara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-017-0302-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 5

Abstract

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Abstract Background We describe two cases of dichorionic triplet pregnancy after a frozen-thawed poor-stage embryo transfer. Main body of the abstract A 39-year-old and a 41-year-old woman underwent ART treatment. The first patient underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at 34 years of age, and two frozen-thawed poor-stage embryos were transferred at 39 years of age with assisted hatching, resulting in a trichorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancy. The second patient underwent ICSI, and two poor-grade blastocysts were transferred followed by assisted hatching, resulting in a dichorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancy. In the first case, the heartbeat of one monozygotic twin fetus had stopped on day 48 post-transfer (9 weeks 2 days), resulting in a dichorionic diamniotic twin pregnancy. A healthy boy and girl were delivered by elective caesarean section at 36 weeks, 5-days gestation. In the second case, the patient underwent selective reduction of the monochorionic twins, resulting in a single pregnancy that was vaginally delivered without any problems at 38 weeks 0-days gestation. Short conclusions Numerous factors may be associated with the development of a monochorionic pregnancy; however, controversies still remain. The present morphological grading for embryos is insufficient for inhibiting the development of a monochorionic pregnancy.

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