Critical appraisal:Courbiere B, Decanter C, Bringer-Deutsch S, Rives N, Mirallié S, Pech JC, et al 2013

Critical Appraisal

Article being appraised

Courbiere B, Decanter C, Bringer-Deutsch S, Rives N, Mirallié S, Pech JC, et al. Emergency IVF for embryo freezing to preserve female fertility: a French multicentre cohort study. Hum Reprod 2013 Sep;28(9):2381-8 Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23832792.

Applicable clinical question

In female cancer patients does the use of embryo cryopreservation result in pregnancy and live birth?

Key Facts

Study Design

case series

Study aims:

To survey French centres use of fertility preservation

Number of Patients:

52

Reported outcome(s):

Fourteen French centres reported that they performed emergency IVF (56 cycles in total) before gonadotoxic treatment, between 1999 and July 2011, in 52 patients.

Results of outcome(s):

The mean number of embryos frozen per cycle was 4.2 ± 3.1. During follow-up, three patients died from the consequences of their disease. For the 49 surviving patients, 22.5% of the couples concerned (n = 11) requested embryo replacement. A total of 33 embryos were thawed with a post-thawing survival rate of 76%. Embryo replacement was finally performed for 10 couples with a total of 25 embryos transferred, leading to one biochemical pregnancy, one miscarriage and three live births. Clinical pregnancy rate and live birth per couple who wanted a pregnancy after cancer were, respectively, 36% (95% CI = 10.9-69.2%) and 27% (95% CI = 6.0-61%).

Includes an economic evaluation

no