1. BLASTOCYST VITRIFICATION and PREIMPLANTATION GENETIC SCREENING (PGS) HAVE FACILITATED “FREEZE-ALL” CYCLES:
A CHANGE IN PRACTICE MANAGEMENT BENEFITTING BOTH THE PATIENTS AND LABORATORY
ASRM PosterPlus #643
Narrated by
Mitchel C. Schiewe, PhD
Newport Beach, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Nashville, TN
Austin, TX

2. Disclosures
J Whitney, BS and RE Anderson, MD serve as educational advisors for Illumina.
MC Schiewe, PhD developed µS-VTF without any commercial interests, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Innovative CryoEnterprises.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose regarding the presentation of our data.

3. Introduction
TITLE
In 2010, Dr. Anderson’s SCCRM clinic/SCIRS Lab (now Ovation Fertility - Newport Beach) produced some of the highest live birth rates /fresh ET in the country (Top 10 percentile)
BL production goal: transferrable/freezable quality QI>50%
2.0 / 70%
2.1 / 48%
Blastocyst culture system were optimized in the first decade of this century. Using endotoxin-free, synthetic protein supplemented LG medium in a tri-gas, group culture environment, we expereinced our highest fresh ET LBR’s in 2010.
This is when we faced a Dilemma? In the highly competitive IVF industry of SoCal, the drive to succeed resulted in excessively high multiple births rates when transferring 2 good quality blastocysts. In turn, in 2011 we felt we had a moral & ethical responsibility to find a new path toward improving outcomes focused on “single, healthy term live births.”
Through the progressive use of vitrification-all cycles and blastocyst biopsy/PGS, we aimed to improve the quality of patient care by transferring fewer embryos, reducing miscarriages and increasing single healthy live births.
2.2 / 42%
2.4 / 28%
2.6 / 0%

4. Greatest Reported Implantation Rates Among 460 US Centers
Background & Results
TITLE
Greatest Reported Implantation Rates Among 460 US Centers
Implantation Rate
After 2010, the benefits of vitrification for embryo cryopreservation have become clearly evident. Progressively applied industry-wide over the next 5 years, as evidenced by the observed annual trends.
The accelerated application of ”Vitrification-All” cycles has occurred in recent years (2014 –date), especially in conjunction with BL-Bx/PGS, resulting in continued improvements in embryo use efficency and significant improvements in higher implantation rates and LBRs, as evidenced in the Annual CDC statistics since 2014 across age groups when contrast to Fresh ET cycles.
The Physicians using Ovation Fertility’s Newport Beach IVF lab have produced some of the highest FET success rates in the country for women in all age groups, according to standardized national statistics, while maintaining fewer than 5% twins.
CDC Inclusion required > 20 transferred embryos

5. DISCUSSION
The global adoption of highly reliable vitrification practices has facilitated significant, progressive improvements in IVF-FET outcomes.
In conjunction with blastocyst biopsy/PGS, single euploid embryo transfer (SEET) has optimized embryo utilization rates, and significantly elevated LBRs/ET in women of all age groups.
Although this trend was not significant on a per cycle basis in older women (38-42yo), it appreciably reduces the trauma/depression associated with pregnancy loss and reduces the time needed to achieve the desired outcome of healthy singleton births.
Overall, vitrification and PGS has allowed us to enhance ethical standards in patient care and improve the healthy singleton LBR’s.
In conjunction with blastocyst biopsy/PGS, single euploid embryo transfer (SEET) has optimized embryo utilization rates, and significantly elevated LBRs/ET in women of all age groups.
Although this trend was not significant on a per cycle basis in older women (38-42yo), it appreciably reduces the trauma/depression associated with pregnancy loss and reduces the time needed to achieve the desired outcome of healthy singleton births.
Overall, vitrification and PGS has allowed us to enhance ethical standards in patient care and improve the healthy singleton LBR’s.

6. References
1. Whitney, JB, RE Anderson, NL Nugent, MC Schiewe. Euploidy predictability of human blastocyst inner cell mass and trophectoderm grading. Annals Clin Lab Res 2015; 3: Whitney, JB, RE Anderson, MC Schiewe. Single center validation of routine blastocyst biopsy implementation. J Asst Reprod Genet (2016); 33: doi: /s Schiewe, MC, S Zozula, N Nugent, K Waggoner, J Borba, L Gamboa, JB Whitney. Modified microSecure vitrification: A safe, simple and highly effective cryopreservation procedure for human blastocysts. J Vis Exp (2017); 121: e54871, doi: / Schiewe, MC, RE Anderson. Vitrification: the pionneering past to current trends and perspectives of cryopreserving human embryos, gametes and reproductive tissues. J Biorepository Sci Appl Med (2017); 5:1-12.