Transfer of Day 6 Frozen-Thawed Blastocysts on Day 5 Compared with Day 6: Catching Up with the Window of Implantation-a Retrospective Study

To compare clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (LBR) after frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) of day (D-) 6 blastocysts on D-5 versus D-6. A retrospective cohort study. A university-affiliated single-center tertiary hospital. Women undergoing FET of D-6 blastocysts between August 2015 and March 2019 were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were endometriosis and maternal age >= 42. Cycles involving embryo transfer (ET) at D-6 were compared to cycles involving ET on D-5. Primary outcomes assessed were CPR and LBR, and the secondary outcomes were spontaneous abortion and chemical pregnancy rates. Forty-two cycles were assessed, 21 in which ET occurred on D-6 and 21 in which ET occurred on D-5. There were no significant differences between groups regarding age, body mass index (BMI), etiology of infertility, number of oocytes aspirated and blastocysts cryopreserved in the fresh cycle, reason for freezing on D-6, endometrial thickness before ET, and blastocyst grade. A comparison of outcomes of ET on D-5 with those involving ET on D-6 revealed that D-5 transfer produced significantly higher CPR (8, 38% vs. 2, 8.5%; P = 0.030) and LBR (6, 28.6% vs. 1, 4.8%; P = 0.038), respectively. FET of D-6 embryos on D-5 compared with D-6 is associated with increased CPR and LBR values. These findings might be related to the limited time window for optimal rates of implantation and indicate that transferring embryos on D-6 of a FET cycle is likely too late.

Automated summary

Comparing clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (LBR) after frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) of day (D-) 6 blastocysts on D-5 versus D-6, it was found that transferring embryos on D-5 produced significantly higher CPR and LBR values. The study suggests that transferring D-6 embryos on D-5 may lead to better outcomes than transferring them on D-6.