Fresh or Frozen

From the BBC, some excerpts...

More evidence has emerged that babies born from frozen embryos are healthier than those that develop from fresh embryos, researchers say.

Three studies presented to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in San Francisco found frozen embryo babies were less likely to be premature and under weight.

Previous research has suggested this is because only the strongest embryos surviving the freezing process.

Fertility experts said more work was needed on the issue.

• A Finnish study: babies born from fresh embryos were 35% more likely to be premature and 64% more likely to have low birth weight than those born from frozen.

• A University of Pennsylvania study: babies born from fresh embryos were 51% more likely to have low birth weight and were 15% more likely to die around the time of birth than those born from frozen embryos.

• An Australian study: 11% of babies born from fresh embryos had low birth weight compared with 6.5% of babies born from frozen.

A total of 12.3% of babies born from fresh embryos were premature, compared with 9.4% of those born from frozen, while 1.9% also suffered death compared with 1.2% from frozen.

The Australian researchers said the findings suggested women may prefer to use frozen embryos in the future.

But Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert from the University of Sheffield and secretary of the British Fertility Society, warned it was not so clear cut.

"Frozen embryo transfers are not as successful as fresh ones in terms of getting a pregnancy. So it may be that we have to balance the health of children against chances of success." But he added: "It is intriguing research that goes against what we would normally assume. It now needs to be looked at again."

(Read the whole article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7720166.stm)

Dr. Pacey hit it on the head -- is the goal achieving pregnancy, or a healthy child? It seems to me, you have to get the former before the latter is even possible.

For couples who are able to have some embryos frozen, they could do a cycle transferring both frozen and fresh embryos. It would interesting to see data from these cycles. Of course, in those circumstances, you may not necessarily know whether the baby results from the frozen or the fresh.

Having thought about these matters a good deal, this latest study provokes more thought.