Assisted hatching is associated with a higher ectopic pregnancy rate.

In a retrospective analysis of 623 clinical pregnancies conceived after IVF, a 5.4% ectopic pregnancy rate (14/258 clinical pregnancies) was found in cases where assisted hatching (AH) was performed compared to 2.2% (8/365) in the group without assisted hatching. In view of the widespread use of AH, it may be relevant to assess the effect of AH on the incidence of ectopic pregnancy in a large multicenter effort.