Effect of oocyte transportation time on the clinical results of transport fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer.

In transport assisted reproductive technology (ART), the time taken to transport oocytes to the main center differs greatly among the satellite facilities and may influence the clinical results. For the conventional fertilization (IVF) groups in which oocytes were collected at the satellite facilities and transported to the main ART center for insemination and embryo transfer, there were 29 cycles in 27 patients with a transportation time within 60 min (short time transport IVF (ST-IVF)), 78 cycles in 62 patients with a time between 60 and 120 min (long time transport IVF (LT-IVF)), and there were 141 cycles in 110 patients at the main ART center (center IVF (C-IVF)). For the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) group, there were 65 ST-ICSI cycles in 42 patients, 146 LT-ICSI cycles in 97 patients, and 326 cycles in 238 patients at the main ART center (C-ICSI). The morphologically favorable embryo rate was lower in the ST-ICSI group (33.8%,  < 0.05) than in the C-ICSI group (38.1%), and the morphologically poor embryo rate in the LT-IVF group (38.6%,  < 0.0001) was higher than in the C-IVF group (26.7%). The rate of embryo transfers resulting in pregnancies was 16.7% in the ST-ICSI group ( < 0.01) and 17.3% in the LT-ICSI group ( < 0.001), both less than that of 35.2% for the C-ICSI group. To improve both the morphologically favorable embryo rate and the pregnancy rate in transport ART, it is essential to improve the total quality control at the satellite facilities. (Reprod Med Biol 2004; : 123-131).