Background: Although women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)-related sub-fertility are high responders to controlled ovarian stimulation, it is difficult to obtain mature oocytes in these women. Therefore, in vitro maturation (IVM), which is the technique of letting the contents of the ovarian follicles and the oocytes inside mature in vitro, has often been proposed in such women. We describe the first successful delivery of monozygotic triplets resulting from transfer of a single blastocyst following IVM of oocytes.
Case presentation: A 32-year-old nulligravida female with PCOS underwent IVM. She underwent vitrified-warmed single blastocyst transfer following IVM, and a dichorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancy was confirmed at 8 weeks. Healthy triplets were delivered by cesarean section at 33 weeks' gestation. This is the first case of monozygotic triplets derived from IVM oocytes that were successfully delivered. The determination of chorionicity and amnionicity is generally supposed until 3 days after fertilization, and no division or splitting of her embryo was observed on transfer. Interestingly, her embryo might have split after the transfer, resulting in a dichorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancy.
Conclusions: Patients should be informed of a possible increased risk of monozygotic multiple pregnancies after single embryo transfer following IVM.
Keywords: Assisted reproductive technology; In vitro maturation of oocyte, monozygotic triplets, polycystic ovary syndrome; Zygotic splitting.