Currently in Europe (and Ireland is no exception) about 25% of all pregnancies following IVF are twins. Multiple pregnancy is undoubtedly associated with increased risks for both infants and mothers.  Many European countries have guidelines for the elective transfer of a single embryo during IVF (rather than two embryo transfer), particularly in couples with a good prognosis for pregnancy.

In the absence of any national policy, Merrion Fertility Clinic introduced an elective single embryo transfer (eSET) policy in January 2008. For couples deemed to have a very good prognosis, a single high quality embryo is transferred and any other good quality embryos are frozen for subsequent use.

Our initial results are excellent with over 50% of couples who reach embryo transfer conceiving with the fresh cycle and a further 30% conceiving with a frozen embryo transfer cycle, yielding a cumulative clinical pregnancy rate of 72% for one initiated IVF attempt. There have been no multiple pregnancies in this group.

This policy has proven very acceptable to our patients and we believe it is the way forward.   While it may take a little longer to achieve the pregnancy if it occurs on the frozen cycle, the benefits in terms of reducing maternal and fetal morbidity are enormous. Unfortunately, not all couples have a very good prognosis and we continue to transfer two embryos in these. If you would like any further information please contact us. We hope to publish these results in the near future.