Autologous endometrial cell co-culture improves human embryo development to high-quality blastocysts: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Research question Does autologous endometrial cell co-culture (AECC) improve the number of good-quality blastocystsobtained by IVF/ intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI), compared with conventional embryo culturemedium in a broad group of patients referred to assisted reproductive technology(ART)? Design This interventional, randomized, double- blind studytook place at Clinique Ovofrom March 2013 to October 2015 and included 207 healthy patients undergoing an IVF or ICSI protocol, of which 71 were excluded before randomization. On the previous cycle, all participants underwent an endometrial biopsyat D5 to D7 post-ovulation, following which the endometrial cells were prepared for AECC. Results The data demonstrated that AECC significantly increased the incidence of good-quality blastocystscompared with culture in conventional media (42.6% vs 28.4%, P Conclusion This study demonstrated the benefits of AECC on blastocystquality compared with conventional embryo culturemedium, in a broader category of patients referred to ART as opposed to other studies that concentrated on specific causes of infertility only. However, limitations of the study design should be taken into consideration; the analysis was performed using embryos rather than patients and a follow-up of children born following the treatments could not be conducted.