When ONE is the not-so-loneliest number!

Excerpt

Big things come in small packages—so the saying goes—but what about when they arrive in small numbers as well? The numbers game is at the heart of what we do in the field of human ARTs. With exception to a healthy semen sample harboring many millions of sperm, the vital ingredients that bring babies to our patients—oocytes and embryos—are generally in short supply. Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) marshaled in an era when multiple oocytes were availed during the course a single retrieval. And the introduction of ICSI overcame the shortcomings associated with traditional IVF by increasing the number of embryos that could be transferred or frozen. Even the adoption of SET illustrates the value of having that ONE embryo. Yet, and as has received more attention of late, having more embryos at hand does not equate to more babies, as several retrospective studies have now concluded. The so-called live baby rate, when calculated on the basis of the number of oocytes retrieved and embryos produced, remains small—much to the chagrin of our patients. For human ARTs, numbers do indeed matter! …