At this past week’s American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) conference, Duke Ob/Gyn’s REI Division was recognized for prestigious presentations and honors/awards. REI's accomplishments were shared via Twitter (@dukeobgyn), thanks to Lisa Muasher, MD.
Two late breaking abstracts were presented:
- Freezing of all embryos in in vitro fertilization (IVF) is beneficial in high responders, but not normal and low responders: An analysis of 82,935 cycles from the most recent SART registry by Kelly S. Acharya, MD; Chaitanya R Acharya, PhD, PSM; Sandy Li; MD, Katherine Bishop, MD, Benjamin Harris, MD, Douglas Raburn, PhD; and Suheil J. Muasher,MD.
- How do patient and IVF cycle characteristics impact blastulation rates? An analysis of 70,968 blastocyst cycles from the SART registry by Kelly S. Acharya, MD; Carrie Jones, MD, Sanaz Keyhan, MD (former Duke Fellow); Douglas Raburn, PhD; Chaitanya R. Acharya, PhD, PSM;and Suheil J. Muasher, MD.
Late breaking abstracts are usually submitted after the deadline for abstract submissions for work that is considered to be of significant value to the meeting. This year, a total of 75 late breaking abstracts were submitted, and only 6 were accepted for oral presentations. These abstracts are published in a supplemental issue to Fertility and Sterility, the official journal of ASRM.
In addition, Suheil Muasher, MD, and Jennifer Eaton, MD, each received the ASRM Star Award for 2017. The award is given to individuals who present for the last 9 out of 10 years at ASRM.
Dr. Eaton presented Prevalence of a Healthy Birth Following In Vitro Fertilization with Fresh Versus Cryopreserved Donor Oocytes in the United Sates: A 2012-2014 National Study. She summarized the findings, which were published by national and international media, as follows:
• Researchers found the odds of having a full-term baby of a healthy weight were the same whether the patient received fresh donor eggs or donor eggs that had been frozen.
• This is the largest study published so far comparing these 2 types of donor eggs - 30,000 patient cases were evaluated
• Researchers also found patients were 2 times more likely to have a full-term baby of a healthy weight when they had only 1 embryo implanted rather than 2 or more.
Thomas Price, MD, was celebrated as the outgoing President of SREI. Julia Woodward, PhD, Chaired the Pre-Congress Course at ASRM titled “Understanding Endometriosis.” Drs. Woodward and Price also presented at the conference.