The alteration of first trimester screening markers in fresh and frozen-thawed blastocyst transfers

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 4, 686 - 690, 04.07.2019

Nur Dokuzeylül Güngör Tuğba Gürbüz Ayşe Filiz Gökmen Karasu Aynur Erşahin

https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.400462

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether
first trimester combined screening for major fetal trisomies is influenced by
assisted reproduction techniques (ART) from blastocyst transfer, with or
without cryopreservation.

Methods: This study is a
retrospective analysis involving 115 singleton pregnancies with euploid fetuses
recruited between January 2017 and December 2017. Sixty-five women conceived
with fresh blastocysts from in vitro
fertilization (IVF) cycles (fresh-blasto), 50 with frozen-thawed blastocysts.
All cases underwent ultrasound assessment at 11+0 - 13+6 weeks with
measurements of crown rump length, nuchal translucency (NT) , free beta-human
chorionic gonadotrophin (free β-hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A
(PAPP-A) concentrations.

Results: Baseline characteristics
and pregnancy outcomes did not differ substantially among the study groups. The
NT was not significantly different in the frozen-thawed -blasto compared to the
fresh-blasto group (p = 0.741). The
free β-hCG levels was not significantly different in frozen-thawed-blasto group
compared to fresh-blasto group (p = 0.495). The
two groups showed no significant difference in the PAPP-A levels (p = 0.139). The median delta crown rump
length was also not significantly different among the two groups (p = 0.758).

Conclusions: In ART
pregnancies from blastocyst transfer, with or without cryopreservation, the NT measurement,
free β-hCG concentration and PAPP-A levels did not show any significant
difference. These features are apparently unrelated to the outcome of pregnancy
and may be due to alterations or delays in embryogenesis or placentation with
potential relevance for the screening test performance. 

Keywords

Assisted reproductive technique, blastocyst, first trimester screening, frozen-thawed embryo transfer, fresh embryo transfer

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