Rated amber by the HFEA for improving the chances of having a baby for most fertility patients

What is embryo glue?

Hyaluronate enriched pre-transfer culture medium contains a substance called hyaluronan, which may improve the chance of the embryo implanting in the womb. It is added to the solution in the dish in which the embryos are kept before being transferred to the patient. EmbryoGlue® is an example of a hyaluronate enriched pre-transfer culture medium.

Risks of embryo glue

Hyaluronate enriched pre-transfer culture medium does not carry any additional known risks for the person undergoing fertility treatment or the child born as a result of fertility treatment.

Evidence

Two high quality studies show that the use of hyaluronate enriched pre-transfer culture medium may be effective at improving the chance of having a baby, other studies in the review were of moderate quality. Further high-quality studies are needed before doctors can be confident of the benefits of hyaluronate enriched pre-transfer culture medium.

Aria’s view

Our current embryo culture media and techniques provide excellent results and as we do not use Embryoglue® routinely we have not collated our own data on potential benefits. The available literature on embryo glue shows significant variability in both the quality of research and study design. Consequently, the use of this media for embryo transfer remains a subject of controversy. The most recent Cochrane review provided moderate-quality evidence indicating enhanced clinical pregnancy rates (CPR) and live birth rates (LBR) when transfer media included this. Embryoglue® may be suggested to selected patients by their treating clinician