![]() “We’re conservative and start thawing only the number we intend to transfer,” Dr. Thawing takes very little time, just about an hour, so transfer day is eventful. Plus, there’s usually only need for one ultrasound monitoring appointment to check her lining, as opposed to the frequent monitoring done with fresh cycles.”Īfter a couple weeks of preparation, it’s time to thaw the frozen embryos and transfer them to the hopeful mother. No ovulation medications are called for with an FET. “The patient will use less medication since all we’re doing is stimulating her uterine lining to prepare for implantation. “The whole frozen embryo transfer process is less intense and requires far fewer office visits,” explains Dr. Nair explains that, although there are still medication protocols to follow, when a patient comes in for a FET cycle, there is typically significantly less medication, and patients find the process far easier and less stressful than undergoing a fresh IVF cycle. You will give estrogen and progesterone injections every third day for up to 2 to 3 weeks, and your uterine lining is checked by post-medication ultrasound.ĭr. Once cleared to start a cycle, you will take medication to optimize the lining of your uterus for implantation. When the patient decides it’s time to use the frozen embryo(s), the frozen embryo transfer process begins with a pre-medication ultrasound to ensure there are no cysts or other structural problems. ![]() “But with vitrification, we’re more often transferring the same numbers of embryos, fresh or frozen with nearly the same pregnancy success rate.” What to expect during an FET cycle “ in order to optimize a patient’s chances at pregnancy, we would transfer back one additional thawed embryo than we would transfer in a fresh IVF cycle,” explained Dr. Ultimately, this increases the chances of pregnancy for patients using frozen embryos. ![]() The most important part about this technique is the benefit of being able to thaw and transfer back fewer embryos compared to the “slow-freeze” process that was traditionally used, as the embryos frozen via vitrification have higher survival rates through the freeze and unfreeze process. The rapid freeze increases the cooling rate and prevents the formation of ice crystals, which may cause breakage later. This process is done by placing the embryo into a solution and then rapidly freezing it in liquid nitrogen. Once a couple has gone through a fresh embryo transfer, any extra embryos that were not transferred and have made it to the blastocyst stage (day 5) are frozen via vitrification. “In turn, this means that the success rates for FET cycles are very similar as IVF cycles using fresh embryos.” How do you freeze an embryo? Anitha Nair of Shady Grove Fertility’s Washington, D.C. “For patients with a good prognosis who are 35 years old or younger, we can offer an approximately 60 percent pregnancy rate per embryo transfer,” says Dr. But what goes into a frozen embryo transfer process, and what are the chances that those frozen embryos will result in a positive pregnancy test? This process is called a frozen embryo transfer (FET). About 40 percent of patients who undergo IVF have an additional embryo(s) that they choose to cryopreserve (freeze) to use for another attempt, should their first cycle be unsuccessful, or to continue to build their family at a later date.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |