The Region - News from Aug. 26, 1987

An infertile woman has become pregnant with triplets after frozen embryos were implanted in her womb, USC announced. “This occurrence is doubly unique because the triplet pregnancy occurred as a result of the transfer of only two frozen embryos,” not three, into the woman, whose age and identity were withheld at her request, said a statement issued by Dr. Richard J. Paulson. “Almost certainly this means one of the embryos split in two to form identical twins,” said Paulson, an obstetrician-gynecology professor who heads the in vitro fertilization service at USC’s School of Medicine. “The odds are astronomically against the possibility that one embryo split into three.” The woman, now in the seventh week of pregnancy, tried to become pregnant for 10 years, but was unable to because her Fallopian tubes were damaged, preventing her eggs from moving from the ovaries to the uterus. Paulson said the parents wish to remain anonymous.