Embryo Culture Media May Influence IVF Outcomes
Matthew VerMilyea, PhD, of Ovation Fertility quoted in Medpage Today
The choice of culture media for nurturing embryos before implantation in assisted reproduction procedures had no major impact on live birth rates, but did affect pregnancy rates and birth weight in a Dutch randomized trial.
The G5 media formulation was not only linked to significantly higher rates of implantation and clinical pregnancy, but significantly lower birth weights than the HTF formulation, reported Sander H.M. Kleijkers, MSc, of Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues, writing in Human Reproduction.
“Understandably, there are multiple environmental influences which will also have an effect on embryo growth, pregnancy success and delivery outcome, but emphasis needs to be placed on the selection of the tiny drop of ‘growth-support fluid’ which inevitably has a vital role,” Matthew VerMilyea, PhD, of Ovation Fertility, a national fertility service provider, told MedPage Today via email. VerMilyea was not involved with the research.