Speaking up for the safety of the children following frozen embryo transfer

Since the first IVF child was born in 1978, more than 10 million children have been born through various assisted reproductive technologies. Although the first child was born from a frozen embryo in 1983, cryopreservation began to have a more significant impact in the early 2000s, thanks to vitrification techniques and improvements that enable the extension of embryo culture up to day 5–7 of development. Together, these two advancements have led to significantly improved embryo selection and higher post-cryopreservation survival rates—up to 99% (Rienzi et al., 2017). Consequently, pregnancy and live birth rates after cryopreservation are now as high as those after fresh embryo transfer, and the number of frozen cycles has exceeded fresh embryo transfers in many countries.