Objective: To investigate the relationship between AMH blood levels and the likelihood of blastocyst formation.
Methods: Two hundred ninety-two patients, 22-44 years of age, undergoing routine explorations during spontaneous cycles that preceded assisted reproductive technologies at our Center, were studied. As the present study did not require previous submission to our Institutional Review Board. Serum AMH and FSH levels were measured and laboratory data was obtained after ovulation induction with an antagonist protocol. Participants were sorted into two different groups paired by age. The first group (No Blasto; n=219) involved women having no blastocyst formation; the second group (Yes Blasto group; n=73) was made up of those women who were considered eligible to undergo 5 days of embryo culture. Furthermore, we analyzed blastulation rate. Patients were divided according to the rate of blastocyst formation <0.43 (n=36) and ≥ 0.43 (n=37). The Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0. We ran Student's t-test for independent samples and Pearson's correlation. A P < 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: AMH levels were statistically different (P=0.002) between the YES and NO blasto groups. Number of oocytes, MII oocytes and embryos were higher in Yes Blasto group. FSH levels were similar between the groups (P=0.149). Pearson correlation coefficient shows that the rate of blastocyst formation is inversely correlated to AMH levels.
Conclusions: We conclude that patients that were considered eligible to undergo blastocyst formation have higher levels of serum AMH, however too high concentration of this hormone can be harmful to blastocyst development.
Keywords: AMH; Blastocyst; IVF; Prognostic factor.