Post-warming embryo morphology is associated with live birth: a cohort study of single vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfer cycles

Purpose This study aims to examine whether blastocyst morphology post-warming correlates with live birth.

Methods In this cohort study, morphological characteristics post-warming were reviewed in all single vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfer cycles performed between November 2016 and May 2017.

Immediately before transfer, the degree of blastocoel re-expansion was graded as A, fully expanded; B, partially expanded ≥ 50%; C, partially expanded < 50%; and D, collapsed.

The degree of post-warming cell survival was graded on a scale of 50 to 100% and was then classified into 4 groups: very low 50–70%, low 71–80%, moderate 81–90%, and high 91–100%.

Results Overall, 612 cycles were reviewed, of which 196 included PGT-A tested embryos.

The live birth rate (LBR) increased from 11.4% in the collapsed blastocysts group to 38.9% in the post-warming full re-expansion group ( p  < 0.001) and from 6.5% for blastocysts with a very low cell survival rate to 34.7% for blastocysts with high cell survival rate ( p  = 0.001).

LBR was 6.7% for blastocysts with the worst post-warming morphological characteristics, namely, collapsed with very low cell survival rate.

On multivariate analyses, partial blastocyst re-expansion ≥ 50%, full re-expansion, and high cell survival rate remained significantly associated with live birth, after controlling for female age, pre-vitrification morphological grading, and PGT-A.

A sub-analysis of cycles using PGT-A tested embryos showed similar results.

Conclusion Post-warming re-expansion and high cell survival rate are associated with higher LBR in euploid and untested blastocysts.

However, embryos with poor post-warming morphology still demonstrate a considerable probability of live birth, and they should not be discarded.