The Safety of Human Embryos Following Long-Term Cryopreservation (≥ 6 Years) on Vitrification

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Vitrification of embryos has become the basic means of assisted reproductive technology (ART) therapy in recent years. Concerns have also been raised about the safety of vitrification and the effect of cryopreservation time. Most of the previous studies were on the data within 6 years of cryopreservation. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of long-term cryopreservat ion (≥6 years) on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was a single-center, retrospective analysis, including 426 frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles. Patients who participated in IVF-FET cycles between January 2013 to December 2020 were analyzed. Preferentially matched participants were divided into three groups according to storage time: group A (≥72 months) , group B (0-3 months, propensity score matching [PSM] according to the age of oocyte retrieval), and group C (0-3 months, PSM according to the age of embryo transfer). RESULTS: Our results revealed that there were no significant differences in human chorionic gonadotropin [HCG] positive rate, clinical pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate, live birth rate, and neonatal outcomes when the embryo storage duration ≥72 months . But the proportion of high birth weight was higher in group A (≥72 months) when matched according to age at embryo transfer. CONCLUSION: The results of our study showed that long-term cryopreservation had no effect on the pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of vitrification. The results offer evidence for the safety of using long-term cryopreservation embryos after vitrification.