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Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Dec;310(6):2767-2781.
doi: 10.1007/s00404-024-07764-z. Epub 2024 Oct 23.

The effect of sequential embryo transfer on pregnancy outcomes in patients with recurrent implantation failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Saeed Baradwan  1 , Majed Saeed Alshahrani  2 , Hussein Sabban  1 , Nabigah Alzawawi  1 , Hanin Hassan Abduljabbar  1 , Afnan Baradwan  3 , Mohamed Anwar Haroun  4 , Ahmed Alanwar  5 , Mohamed Ali Mohamed  6 , Yousef Mohamed El-Mazzally  7 , Ahmed Mohamed Abdelhakim  8 , Yasser Khamis  9
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The effect of sequential embryo transfer on pregnancy outcomes in patients with recurrent implantation failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Saeed Baradwan et al. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the impact of sequential embryo transfer on pregnancy outcomes among patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF).

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search across various databases for eligible clinical trials from inception to January 2024. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included if they compared sequential embryo transfer, comprising both cleavage-stage and blastocyst-stage embryos, with other transfer protocols in infertile women with repeated implantation failure. Meta-analysis was performed using Revman software. Our primary focus was on the ongoing pregnancy rate. Our secondary measures included rates of chemical pregnancies, clinical pregnancies, miscarriages, and multiple pregnancies.

Results: Seven RCTs, encompassing 909 patients, met the inclusion criteria. Sequential embryo transfer demonstrated a significant increase in the ongoing pregnancy rate compared to the control group (OR = 2.28, 95% CI [1.46, 3.56], p = 0.003). Moreover, the sequential embryo transfer group exhibited notable improvements in chemical and clinical pregnancy rates. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups regarding multiple pregnancy and miscarriage rates (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: Sequential embryo transfer shows promise in enhancing pregnancy outcomes among RIF patients. However, additional trials are warranted to validate our findings.

Keywords: Pregnancy outcome; RIF; Recurrent implantation failure; Sequential embryo transfer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest.

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