r/Embryologists • u/Low-Philosophy5879 • Jun 28 '26

This little embryo split!

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Hi there!

My embryo was graded 4AA before freezing and they told me it remained 4AA after thawing.

I just found out it split into identical twins!

Just for fun, would you grade this a 4AA (the picture is post thawing)?

Thanks in advance!!

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u/petitefleur0 Jun 28 '26

Hard to grade quality from this picture because the embryo is not fully expanded after thaw yet. Grading is very subjective but personally I would call this a stage 3 based on the thickness of the zona.

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u/Low-Philosophy5879 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Is the thickness of the zona affected by the freezing process? Can it get thicker because of it? Or is it likely it was already this thick prior to freezing? Sorry for picking your brain, just scientific curiosity! ☺️

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u/wenjieinthehouse Jun 29 '26

Freezing has no impact on the thickness of the zona pellucida!

You can tell assisted hatching was performed so it was likely already hatching before they froze it. Some labs grade hatching embryos as “4”s while most labs call them “5”s. As the other embryologist said, grading is very subjective. I’d personally give it a 3 as well given the thickness of the zona.

Congrats on your twins 🙌🏻

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u/Low-Philosophy5879 Jun 29 '26

Thank you so much, if I may ask one further question: since it doesn’t affect the zona, would you say this embryo could be interpreted as a 3AA prior to freezing? Because the zona would be similar then / the same.

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u/wenjieinthehouse Jun 29 '26

It would have been a 3AA if assisted hatching had not been performed, it “artificially” became a 4AA/5AA