Two frozen embryo methods work similarly

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, July 1 (UPI) -- Babies born from frozen embryos via intracytoplasmic sperm injection do as well as frozen embryos using in vitro fertilization, U.S. researchers have learned.

IVF is a process by which egg cells are fertilized by sperm in vitro -- outside the womb. ICSI is a type of IVF using a single sperm injected directly into an egg.

Study leader Queenie Neri of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., reported the study findings at the meeting in Amsterdam of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.

The study looked at 720 conceptions using IVF and 1,231 via ICSI between 1993 and 2007 and found similar survival rates -- 74 percent after IVF and 77.2 percent after ICSI. The clinical pregnancy rate was 42.8 percent after IVF and 39.4 percent after ICSI. There were 27.8 percent multiple IVF pregnancies and 21.1 percent multiple ICSI pregnancies.

The babies were rated using measures that included Apgar scores, gestational ages, birth weights and congenital malformations.

The researchers also looked at mothers given hormone medication and found the rate of malformation in babies of the medicated moms was 2.2 percent versus 0.4 percent for those not given that medication, the study said.