Impact of elective single embryo transfer on the twin pregnancy rate.

BACKGROUND

It is unclear how the implementation of elective single embryo transfer in clinical practice would affect clinical pregnancy and delivery rates and multiple birth rates.

METHODS

This retrospective study analysed 1871 IVF/ICSI cycles carried out from 1997 to 2001 in the IVF programme of a single university infertility clinic.

RESULTS

The number of elective single embryo transfers increased from 11 to 56%. At the same time the clinical pregnancy rate was relatively stable; mean 34.0% (range 28-42). The number of embryos per embryo transfer decreased from 1.8 to 1.3. The multiple pregnancy and delivery rates dropped markedly from 25 to 7.5% and from 25 to 5% respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

An elective single embryo transfer programme can be adopted in daily practice that decreases the twinning rate to <10% and does not affect the overall pregnancy rate.