Live birth of a normal healthy baby after a frozen embryo transfer with blastocysts that were frozen and thawed twice.

OBJECTIVE

To report the birth of a normal healthy baby after a frozen ET (FET) with blastocysts that were frozen and thawed twice.

DESIGN

Case report.

SETTING

Private infertility practice.

PATIENT(S): A 26-year-old female who presented with male factor infertility and polycystic ovarian disease.

INTERVENTION(S): One cycle of IVF-ET and FET no. 1 followed by the refreezing of blastocysts and FET no. 2.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Clinical pregnancy and live birth.

RESULT(S): Thirty-six months after a successful IVF-ET cycle, FET no. 1 was performed with eight frozen blastocysts that were thawed. One blastocyst was transferred to the uterus and four were refrozen. The first FET resulted in a singleton pregnancy that ended in a spontaneous abortion after 7 weeks' gestation. Six months later, FET no. 2 was performed. All four refrozen blastocysts were thawed and transferred to the uterus. The second FET resulted in a singleton pregnancy and the birth of a normal healthy baby (male) weighing 3,005 g after 38 weeks' gestation.

CONCLUSION(S): Human blastocysts can be refrozen/thawed and produce a normal healthy baby after an FET. Further studies will be required to determine survival, implantation, and live birth rates with refrozen/thawed human blastocysts.