Comments for Fertility Lab Insider

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Carole

Carole — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:19:58 +0000

Dear Anonymous,
Please don’t drive yourself crazy. There is little difference between a 3 and a 4 cell embryo on day 2- both are okay; the developmental change between 3-4 cells can happen in a few hours. Just take it one day at a time. Your embryo has already met several milestones. Be hopeful and happy for that. Wishing you much good luck!! Carole

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:52:18 +0000

Hello carole
I have just completed an egg sharing cycle where 10 eggs were retrieved so 5 for me.

After the most stressful week of my life I amazingly have one precious little two day embryo on board… we had only two eggs mature so we were very lucky the 2 day embryo is a three cell slightly asymmetrical, two cells are slightly bigger than the third, no fragmentation but embryologist said it was good quality I am worrying if my little embie has continued dividing as I know blasts are generally more successful dont get me wrong I am so lucky to have this little miracle and a chance but do I have a good chance? I love this little embie already so much I am trying to stay positive and relaxed. Im worried about the slight assymetry? and the fact its 3 cell? thanks so much, I keep googling sending myself crazy ha ha

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Carole

Carole — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:03:26 +0000

Hi Sheena,
Grading systems describe a snapshot of development at a specific time. They are somewhat useful but are far from 100% predictive. The fact that the embryos were a compacting morula and a hatching blastocyst means they have already passed several developmental milestones. At this point, with your history of one successful pregnancy, be optimistic. Good Luck!! Carole

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Sheena

Sheena — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:48:09 +0000

Hi Carol,
I am 39 and we have had 2 fresh icsi cycles and 2 fet. One gorgeous boy and one miscarriage from those cycles. On wednesday we transferred one blastocyst grade 5bc, which had started hatching and a compacting morula. The icm and te were only grade b and c, so I wonder how good the blastocyst actually was. How much do you think that will impact the viability of the blastocyst?
Thanks
Sheen

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Carole

Carole — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:39:36 +0000

Hi Dannielle,
Some fragmentation is not that unusual and does not mean that you will not get pregnant this cycle. When fragmentation gets to be 25% or greater, it starts to be more worrisome. Even then, it is not necessarily the kiss of death. I have told this story elsewhere on the blog but one of my first IVF pregnancies was with embryos that were so badly fragmented, I couldn’t with confidence say they were even alive- yet they resulted in the birth of a beautiful baby girl. That same week, we transferred 3 beautiful textbook perfect looking 8 cell embryos —and no pregnancy. The second patient was in her forties. The first patient was younger. So, the bottom line is, don’t freak out. Some fragmentation does not rule out implantation and pregnancy. Hang in there. Sending you some positive thoughts!! Carole

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Dannielle

Dannielle — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:47:25 +0000

Hi Carole,
I am currently undergoing my second IVF attempt…first was one year ago when I was 36. 29 eggs were retrieved with 21 being fertilized. The day of our transfer we received a call from the RE advising us not to come in as only two of the embryos were looking viable for transfer but they wanted to wait one more day. We had a transfer of one on day 6 which resulted in a BFN. The eggs had arrested development and fragmentation which I believe started around day 3. This cycle he did not do lupron, lowered my gonal f dose and added ganirellex and omnitrope to hopefully boost the quality of the egss. 17 were retreived with 15 mature and 11 fertilzed. My RE called today with an update…said things are looking “good”. Some are showing signs of fragmentation and some are not. Once I heard fragmentation I started freaking out and am worried I did not ask the proper questions. First of all should I be concerned? I assume that even under the most normal cirmcumstances embryos will fragment and not make it to the transfer stage. Should I be calling back and asking for more specific information? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Dannielle

Comment on IVF Disasters: No Fertilization by Carole

Carole — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:22:31 +0000

Dear Anonymous,
I understand your need to believe in this procedure, but belief alone will not keep you or your children safe. If this technique has been scientifically established to be effective and safe, you should be able to provide the references for at least one peer-reviewed published paper in a reputable scientific journal that backs up the clinical validity and claims of safety using this approach in human IVF patients. You should also be able to provide the name of the study, the sponsors of the study, and the IRB protocol number of the human research clinical trial which demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach and it’s safety for patients. Finally, at the very least, the clinical scientists should not be so shy about revealing their names and both their academic and commercial affiliations. Patients enrolled in approved clinical trials are provided with all this information. If they can do none of these things and you must remain anonymous as well, I would be very cautious in proceeding. In the absence of any of this information, you would appear to be the guinea pig for their research. Good Luck!!

Comment on IVF Disasters: No Fertilization by Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:45:21 +0000

They have been using the procedure for several years where i am going and they have had no abnormal children produced. It is all properly regulated.

Your opinion on the technique is very sensational and contradicts what i have been told by the researchers and consultants that have actually been personally been involved in it’s development.

I don’t believe you know anything about it.

The reason it isn’t widely available is because the condition is so rare and donor sperm is often insisted upon by this point.

They can confirm if it is the sperm causing the lack of fertilisation, which protein is missing, which chemical is missing and be very deliberate in what they contribute to the fertilisation process. They do not add anything that would not be there, if for the sperm having the required protein.

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Janie

Janie — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:41:14 +0000

Hi Carole – many thanks for your reply. Yes, you’re correct it was the two grade 2cc blasts that were transferred. I just heard that the morulas didn’t make it so I guess that makes me all the more nervous that the blasts that were transferred were also on their ‘way out’. Guess we just have to tough it out now for two weeks.
Thanks again for your reply.

Comment on Embryo stages, progression and pregnancy outcomes by Carole

Carole — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:11:43 +0000

Hi Janie,
Don’t give up hope yet. Although you didn’t say it explicitly, it sounds from your comment, that your clinic probably transferred the two blasts (grade 2CC) to you on day 5. The designation 2 means that there was a fluid filled cavity but the cc means the cells were sparse in both the inner cell mass and the trophectoderm, so these are some hours behind what we have come to expect as ideal for day 5. However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t continue to develop inside your uterus. They have several days to catch up and still implant in a receptive uterus so don’t give up on them yet. Prediction of pregnancy success from appearance of the embryos is at best a very inexact science and we are often surprised by embryos who apparently haven’t read our text books!! Good Luck!! Carole