One embryo implantation sufficient for a pregnancy

Women who are implanted with only one embryo during in vitro fertilization have equal chances of pregnancy as women implanted with two, Swedish researchers report.

This research, which is a continuation of a study done in 2004, comes at the time when the risks of multiple pregnancies are examined more closely by the medical community.

53 percent of women become pregnant and bore children

Dr. Ann Thurin-Kjellberg from the University of Gothenburg announced that she participated in a study that compared effects of a single, as well as multiple, embryo implantations, The New England Journal of Medicine reports.

More than half of women (53 percent), got pregnant after the first attempt, in which only one embryo was used. In contrast to this, women who were implanted with two embryos, had a success rate of 57 percent - which is a negligible difference, the scientists said.

However, the difference was huge in the prospects for multiple pregnancies. Only two percent of women implanted with one embryo achieved multiple pregnancies, while the occurrence in the other group was as high as 28 percent.