배아점수제를 도입하여 배아의 질을 평가하고 이를 임신율과의 관계를 분석하여 평가해본 결과 배아점수제가 이식후 임시율을 예측하는데 임상적으로 유용한 것으로 평가되었다. 본 점수제의 장점으로는, 기존의 분류법과는 달리 배아의 형태, 분할속도, 이식되는 배아의 숫자 등이 배아 총점수라는 단일 항목에 모두 반영된다는 것이다. 이러한 점수는 이식시술후 의사와 환자가 그 시술에서의 임신 가능성을 예측하는데 필요한 객관적인 자료로 이용될 수 있다.

Aims: To study the validity of a scoring system in evaluating embryo quality and predicting pregnancy potential. The scoring system was formulated using morphologic parameters and cleavage rates. Embryos were scored between 0 and 10 according to morphologic criteria and cleavage rate. Materials and Methods: The pregnancy results of 2,371 fresh embryos scored by this criteria and transferred between January 1991 and September 1992 in the Monash IVF Program, Melbourne, Australia were analysed for this study. Results: Analysis of 2,371 fresh embryos scores from 926 consecutive transfers showed that intrauterine and multiple pregnancy rate increased significantly along with increased total score per transfer(p<0.05). Pregnancy rate also increased from 10.7% to 21.6% as the number of embryos with a score of 7 or more(good embryo) increased from 0 to 3(p<0.05). The well-known relationship between the number of embryos transferred and pregnancy rate was also found but this correlation could not seen when all of added embryos were scored less than 7. When all the embryos in a given transfer were scored less than 4(poor embryo), the pregnancy rate was near zero regardless of the number of embryos transferred. Conclusion: This study indicated that an embryo scoring system based on morphologic and cleavage rate criteria could be useful in selecting good quality embryos and predicting the pregnancy rate in an IVF/ET program.