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Chen K, Gao M, Wu Y, Hu Z, Tang L, Li M, Tian M, Cui H, Huang Y, Han Y, Li L, Li Y, Li Y, Wu Z, Tang Z, Zhang R, Wu Y, Zhang Y, Guo Y, Zhang H, Xiang L, Yan J. Two laser-assisted hatching methods of embryos in ART: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2024; 24:300. [PMID: 38649878 PMCID: PMC11034172 DOI: 10.1186/s12884-024-06380-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Laser-assisted hatching (LAH) stands as the predominant technique for removing the zona pellucida (ZP) in embryos, primarily consisting of two methods: drilling laser-assisted hatching (D-LAH) and thinning laser-assisted hatching (T-LAH). Presently, both methods have limitations, and their comparative efficacy for embryo implantation and clinical pregnancy remains uncertain. AIM Evaluate the impact of D-LAH and T-LAH on clinical pregnancy rates within assisted reproductive technology (ART). METHODS We systematically searched electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until July 20, 2022. This study encompassed observational studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A 95% confidence interval (CI) was utilized for assessing the risk ratio (RR) of pregnancy outcomes. The level of heterogeneity was measured using I2 statistics, considering a value exceeding 50% as indicative of substantial heterogeneity. RESULTS The meta-analysis scrutinized 9 studies involving 2405 clinical pregnancies from D-LAH and 2239 from T-LAH. Findings suggested no considerable variation in the clinical pregnancy rates between the two techniques (RR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.79-1.10, I2 = 71%, P = 0.41). Subgroup analyses also revealed no substantial differences. However, D-LAH exhibited a notably higher occurrence of singleton pregnancies compared to T-LAH (RR = 2.28, 95% CI: 1.08-4.82, I2 = 89%, P = 0.03). There were no noteworthy distinctions observed in other secondary outcomes encompassing implantation rate, multiple pregnancies, ongoing pregnancy, miscarriage, premature birth, and live birth. CONCLUSION Both the primary findings and subgroup analyses showed no marked variance in clinical pregnancy rates between D-LAH and T-LAH. Therefore, patients with varying conditions should select their preferred LAH technique after assessing their individual situation. However, due to the restricted number of studies involved, accurately gauging the influence of these laser techniques on clinical outcomes is challenging, necessitating further RCTs and high-quality studies to enhance the success rate of ART. TRIAL REGISTRATION PROSPERO: CRD42022347066.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kexin Chen
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Mengying Gao
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yao Wu
- The First People's Hospital of Qujing, Qujing, Yunnan, China
| | - Zhixin Hu
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Lu Tang
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Minyao Li
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Mei Tian
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Hao Cui
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yanrong Huang
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Youzhen Han
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Lei Li
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yonggang Li
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yunxiu Li
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Ze Wu
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Zouying Tang
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Ronghui Zhang
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yuerong Wu
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yizhi Zhang
- Kunming Maternity and Child Care Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yan Guo
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
| | - Hongqing Zhang
- Kunming Maternity and Child Care Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
| | - Lifeng Xiang
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China.
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
| | - Jiacong Yan
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Healthy Birth and Birth Defect Prevention in Western China, First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China.
- KUST-YPFPH Reproductive Medicine Joint Research Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
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Laser-assisted hatching zona thinning does not improve the pregnancy outcomes of poor-quality blastocysts in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycle: a retrospective cohort study. Lasers Med Sci 2021; 37:1605-1614. [PMID: 34480664 DOI: 10.1007/s10103-021-03409-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
It had been suggested, after facilitating the hatching process, improved pregnancy outcomes could be attained in embryos with thick and hard zona. This study aimed to determine the effect of zona thinning on pregnancy outcomes in poor-quality frozen-thawed blastocysts. This retrospective study included 230 women (≤ 40 years) who underwent frozen embryo transfer of poor-quality blastocysts (scored < 3BB). In total, 105 patients were in the assisted hatching group in which the zona was thinned by laser before transfer and 125 patients were in the control group in which the blastocysts were non-manipulated. Patients' demographics, cycle characteristics, and pregnancy outcomes were compared between the assisted hatching group and the control group. Further, regression analysis was applied to test the correlation between assisted hatching and live birth. All parameters in the patients' demographic characteristics and the cycle's characteristics were not significantly different between two groups. As for pregnancy outcomes, the second trimester pregnancy loss was significantly higher in the assisted hatching group (P = 0.035). Other pregnancy outcomes, including implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, biochemical miscarriage rate, the first trimester pregnancy loss, ongoing pregnancy rate, and live birth rate were comparable between two groups. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated no association between live birth and assisted hatching (univariate, OR = 0.787, P > 0.05; multivariate, OR = 0.652, P > 0.05), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the regression model was almost 0.7. It suggested that zona thinning may not be supposed to perform on poor-quality, frozen-thawed blastocysts. The indications of assisted hatching were still needed to further investigate.
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Alteri A, Viganò P, Maizar AA, Jovine L, Giacomini E, Rubino P. Revisiting embryo assisted hatching approaches: a systematic review of the current protocols. J Assist Reprod Genet 2018; 35:367-391. [PMID: 29350315 PMCID: PMC5904073 DOI: 10.1007/s10815-018-1118-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2017] [Accepted: 01/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Zona pellucida (ZP) manipulation, termed "assisted hatching" (AH), has been introduced in order to favor embryo hatching and ultimately improve assisted reproductive technology success but with poor proofs of safety and biological plausibility. We herein provide a systematic review of clinical outcomes following the application of different methods of ZP manipulation on fresh or frozen/thawed embryos at different developmental stages in different groups of patients. Out of the 69 papers that compared the clinical outcomes deriving from hatched versus non-hatched embryos, only 11 considered blastocysts while the rest referred to cleavage stage embryos. The ZP thinning of fresh embryos either by chemical or laser approach was shown to provide very limited benefit in terms of clinical outcomes. Better results were observed with procedures implying a higher degree of zona manipulation, including zona removal. Studies comparing the mechanical or chemical procedures to those laser-mediated consistently reported a superiority of the latter ones over the former. Literature is consistent for a benefit of ZP breaching in thawed blastocysts. This review provides the current knowledge on the AH procedure in order to improve its efficacy in the appropriate context. Embryologists might benefit from the approaches presented herein in order to improve Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Alteri
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy.
| | - Paola Viganò
- Reproductive Sciences Laboratory, Division of Genetics and Cell Biology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy
| | - Ahmad Abu Maizar
- California Fertility Partners, 11818 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90025, USA
| | - Luca Jovine
- Department of Biosciences and Nutrition & Center for Innovative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Hälsovägen 7, SE-141 83, Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Elisa Giacomini
- Reproductive Sciences Laboratory, Division of Genetics and Cell Biology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy
| | - Patrizia Rubino
- HRC Fertility, 333 South Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena, CA, 91105, USA
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Park SB, Kim HJ, Choi YB, Ahn KH, Lee KH, Yang JB, Yu CS, Seo BB. The effect of various assisted hatching techniques on the mouse early embryo development. Clin Exp Reprod Med 2014; 41:68-74. [PMID: 25045630 PMCID: PMC4102692 DOI: 10.5653/cerm.2014.41.2.68] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2014] [Revised: 04/03/2014] [Accepted: 04/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective In search of an ideal method of assisted hatching (AH), we compared the effects of conventional micropipette-AH and laser-AH on the blastocyst formation rate (BFR) and blastocyst cell numbers. Methods Four- to five-week-old ICR female mice were paired with male mice after superovulation using Pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and hCG. The two-cell embryos were flushed from the oviducts of female mice. The retrieved two-cell embryos underwent one of five AH procedures: single mechanical assisted hatching (sMAH); cross mechanical assisted hatching (cMAH); single laser assisted hatching (sLAH); quarter laser assisted hatching (qLAH); and quarter laser zona thinning assisted hatching (qLZT-AH). After 72 hours incubation, double immunofluorescence staining was performed. Results Following a 72 hours incubation, a higher hatching BFR was observed in the control, sMAH, cMAH, and sLAH groups, compared to those in the qLAH and qLZT-AH groups (p<0.05). The hatched BFR was significantly higher in the qLAH and qLZT-AH groups than in the others (p<0.05 for each group). The inner cell mass (ICM) was higher in the control and sMAH group (p<0.05). The trophectoderm cell number was higher in the cMAH and qLAH groups (p<0.05). Conclusion Our results showed that the hatched BFR was higher in groups exposed the the qLAH and qLZT-AH methods compared to groups exposed to other AH methods. In the qLAH group, although the total cell number was significantly higher than in controls, the ICM ratio was significantly lower in than controls.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hye Jin Kim
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chungnam National Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
| | | | - Kwang Hwa Ahn
- Fertility Clinic, Mirae Ladies Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Kee Hwan Lee
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chungnam National Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Jung Bo Yang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chungnam National Hospital, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Chang Seok Yu
- Department of Animal Resources, Daegu University, Gyeongsan, Korea
| | - Byoung Boo Seo
- Department of Animal Resources, Daegu University, Gyeongsan, Korea
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Ge HS, Zhou W, Zhang W, Lin JJ. Impact of assisted hatching on fresh and frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles: a prospective, randomized study. Reprod Biomed Online 2008; 16:589-96. [PMID: 18413070 DOI: 10.1016/s1472-6483(10)60466-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine if assisted hatching (AH) could improve the rates of pregnancy and implantation for both fresh and frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles. A total of 760 fresh embryo transfer cycles and 200 frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles were randomly assigned to either the treatment group (AH) or the control group (no AH). Zona thinning by laser was performed just before embryo transfer. In fresh embryo transfer cycles, the AH group and control group results were comparable. There were no significant differences in the rates of positive human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG; 47.5 versus 48.8%), clinical pregnancy (42.4 versus 42.6%), or implantation (26.3 versus 25.2%) between the two groups. However, in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles, the rates of positive HCG (32.0 versus 17.0%), clinical pregnancy (25.0 versus 14.0%) and implantation (16.7 versus 7.3%) were significantly greater in the AH group than in the control group (P <: 0.05). The results of this investigation show that in the fresh embryo transfer cycles, laser-assisted hatching by zona thinning has no impact on the rates of positive HCG, clinical pregnancy and implantation, whereas in frozen-thawed cycles, assisted hatching by zona thinning significantly increases all three of these rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong-Shan Ge
- Reproductive Health Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325009 PR China
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