MULTIPLE IVF FAILURES? WHAT NEXT?

During the present times when many couples in the world are facing fertility issues, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), an Assisted Reproductive Technology has emerged as one of the most popular and successful fertility treatments.

The very precise process involves many steps such as:

• Stimulation: The doctor will first give the female patient the fertility drugs that will produce multiple eggs and the process is called stimulation. The more the number of eggs produced, greater the chances that the patient will have successful fertilization later in the treatment.
• Removal of eggs: The patients are given the hormone injection for eggs to mature quickly. The matured eggs are then retrieved through a minor surgical procedure.
• Collection of sperms of the partner or the donor: Sperms are collected from the partner or donor and then put to a speed wash and spin cycle to isolate the healthiest sperms.
• Fertilization: The most viable eggs are then fertilized with the healthiest sperms in the laboratory under controlled conditions. This stage is called insemination.
•  Transfer the embryos: Three to five days after fertilization the doctor will transfer the most viable embryos into the uterus using a catheter. The embryo will implant in the uterus lining and develop into a baby.

Not every IVF cycle is successful. Some couples may require e few IVF cycles for achieving a successful pregnancy. A failed IVF cycle leads to depression among couples. If three or more attempts of IVF using good quality embryos are unsuccessful, this may be termed multiple IVF failures. If the patient fails to get pregnant or the pregnancy ends early due to miscarriage, both are termed as failures.

Failure of IVF may be due to many reasons. Some of these are:

• Eggs not Viable: With the age of the intending mother, the number and quality of eggs start diminishing which can result in the poor quality of the embryo. Women under the age of 35 years have a 50% success rate of implantation and as the age increase the rate of success falls.
• Quality of Embryo: One of the most common reasons for IVF failure is that the embryo fails to implant because it stops developing as it may not be healthy enough to grow.
• Genetic or Chromosomal Issues: Chromosomal abnormalities in embryos are also a significant reason for IVF failure, just as in the case of natural conception. With the advancement of age, chromosomal abnormalities start occurring in the woman’s eggs as well as man’s sperms. These abnormalities can be detected in the embryos prior to implantation with Pre-implantation genetic screening. If the couples refuse to undergo screening then the abnormality in the embryo may lead to IVF failure.
• Lifestyle Reasons: Lifestyle reasons those are detrimental to failure of natural conception are responsible for IVF failure as well. Smoking, consumption of alcohol, poor diet, and obesity is some of the lifestyle reasons which hinder successful pregnancy.

Solutions:

The doctor after investigating and establishing the probable reason for the failure of IVF can suggest the solution.

• Using donor eggs: In case of quality of eggs is the reason, the eggs of a donor can be an option. Viable eggs can be harvested from a young healthy egg donor.
• Surrogacy: Some women may not be able to carry the fertilized embryo to its term, due to various reasons. Surrogacy is a viable option for such patients. The eggs of the intended mother are fertilized with the father’s sperm and the viable embryo is then transferred by the doctor into the uterus of a gestational surrogate who will then carry the pregnancy to its full term.
• Don’t give up: Failure of one treatment is not the end of the road for your dreams of family growth.

Call us at 767-855-6881 and have a consultation with our team of experts. We have the latest facilities for carrying out requisite testing. Our team will study the causes of failure and suggest alternate medical treatments and help you achieve parenthood.