| Table 1. Comparison of the baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the two study groups (easy and difficult embryo transfer) during IVF/ICSI cycles | |||
| Variable | Easy embryo transfer (n=442) |
Difficult embryo transfer (n=39) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 33 (30-37) | 33 (29-36) | 0.6038 |
| Cause of infertility n (%) Male factor Female factor |
35 (7.92) 407 (92.08) |
1 (2.56) 38 (97.44) |
0.446 |
| Cycle number (n) | 1 (1-2) | 1 (1-1) | 0.733 |
| Follicle number (n) | 8 (5-11) | 7 (5-10) | 0.6378 |
| Protocol type n (%) Short GnRH antagonist Long GnRH agonist |
435 (98.42) 7 (1.58) |
37 (94.87) 2 (5.13) |
0.161 |
| Protocol duration (days) | 11 (10-11) | 11 (10-12) | 0.8992 |
| Follicle size (mm) | 20 (20-20) | 20 (19-20) | 0.993 |
| E2 level (IU/L) | 7729 (5627-10828) | 7117 (5573-11314) | 0.8761 |
| Day 3 FSH level (IU/L) | 6.8 (5.7-8.2) | 6.9 (5.7-8.8) | 0.9593 |
| Day 3 LH level (IU/L) | 6 (4.6-8) | 6 (4.3-7.8) | 0.6124 |
| Number of oocytes retrieved (n) | 8 (5-11) | 8 (4-13) | 0.4609 |
| Number of Graafian follicles (n) | 0 (0-1) | 0 (0-1) | 0.8595 |
| Number of MI oocytes (n) | 1 (0-2) | 1 (0-2) | 0.4536 |
| Number of MII oocytes (n) | 5.5 (3-8) | 6 (4-10) | 0.2793 |
| Number of fertilized embryos | 4 (2-6) | 5 (3-7) | 0.0636 |
| Number of embryos (grade A/B) transferred (n) | 2 (2-3) | 3 (2-3) | 0.2372 |
| Number of cleaved embryos (n) | 4 (2-6) | 4 (3-7) | 0.1025 |
| Number of good-quality (grade A) embryos (n) | 2 (1-3) | 3 (1-4) | 0.1041 |
| Number of fair-quality (grade B) embryos (n) | 1 (0-2) | 1 (0-2) | 0.3192 |
| Number of poor-quality (grade C) embryos (n) | 0 (0-1) | 0 (0-1) | 0.9833 |
| Number of blastocyst embryos (n) | 0 (0-0) | 0 (0-0) | 0.137 |
| Embryo stage n (%) Cleavage transfer Blastocyst |
396 (89.59) 46 (10.41) |
32 (82.05) 7 (17.95) |
0.149 |
| Semen specimen type n (%) Normal (fresh) Frozen PESA Frozen TESE Frozen semen |
407 (92.08) 1 (0.23) 33 (7.47) 1 (0.23) |
38 (97.44) (0) (2.56) 0 (0) |
0.446 |
| Clinical pregnancy rate, n (%) | 143 (32.35) | 9 (23.08) | 0.282 |
E2: Estradiol; FSH: Follicle Stimulating Hormone; GnRH: Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; ICSI: Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection; IVF: In Vitro Fertilization; LH: Luteinizing Hormone; PESA: Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration; TESE: Testicular Sperm Aspiration
The numerical data are not normally distributed, as indicated by the Shapiro-Wilk test, and are presented as the median (first quartile-third quartile)