The impacts of the number of prefreeze and postthaw blastomeres on embryo implantation potential: A systematic analysis

To systematically analyze the potential of embryo implantation through comparison between the number of surviving blastomeres, the growth, and implantation rate. Retrospective analysis on implantation rate and the growth of prefreeze-postthaw embryos with different blastomeres in 1487 frozen embryo transfer cycles. In groups of postthaw embryos without damage, implantation rate and the average number of blastomere growth increased significantly with increasing number of blastomeres. The implantation rate and the number of blastomeres of embryos with 8-8c (the number of blastomeres in prefreeze embryo-the number of blastomeres in postthaw embryo) continued to grow at a significantly higher rate than that of 5-5c and 6-6c (P < .05). In groups of embryos with the same number of blastomeres before freezing and with partial damage after resuscitation, the implantation rates were lower and the average numbers of blastomere growth reduced as the number of damaged blastomeres increased. For embryos with good quality before freezing, 1 to 3 damaged blastomeres in postthawed embryos did not affect the development and implantation rate. Both implantation rate and growth rate of embryos with 8-6c were significantly higher than those of embryos with 6-6c (P < .05). The number of surviving blastomeres and growth in frozen-thawed embryos could be important index to predict embryo development potential and clinical outcome of implantation. For embryos with good quality, a small amount of damaged blastomeres would not weaken embryo development potential and implantation rate after being thawed.