Calcium ionophore

[Kari55]

Hi everyone, we have been recommended to do calcium ionophore (egg activation) to increase our fertilisation rate. Im doing some research about it and I’m now really concerned whether this is a safe technique. If any of you have experience with this, I would appreciate if you could share it.

[Hidden]

Hi sweetie sorry can’t help I have never heard of this. Good luck cx

[Kari55]

Thank you for your reply Lyeo, much appreciated. Was the calcium ionophore used in your treatment?

[KateBrian]

The HFEA have some information about calcium ionophore and the possible risks on their website in the section about add ons - hfea.gov.uk/treatments/expl...

[Kari55 in reply to KateBrian]

Thanks Kate. I have seen this and it made me worried. I guess we would need to make a decision whether to take the risk or not. Will keep researching and will also tell my consultant about my doubts.

[KateBrian in reply to Kari55]

Definitely discuss it with your consultant. It is usually only recommended for quite a small group of patients so your consultant will be able to tell you why they are recommending it and why your particular circumstances would merit it.

[Kari55 in reply to KateBrian]

He recommended it as our fertilisation rate with ICSI was lower than they would expect it 5 out of 8 eggs fertilised and 1 embryo fragmented immediately. Not sure if this is good enough reason to try this since we didn’t completely failed fertilisation.

[abcgirl in reply to Kari55]

Hmmm that’s interesting. Not sure that would be reason enough for calcium ionophore. My clinic says their rate is about 60% on average with ICSI. I’ve connected with others who have had 0 or at most 1 out of many eggs fertilize, then that’s a problem that calcium could solve. There’s a forum with a lot of other women much more knowledgeable and with more experience than me on this: fertilityfriends.co.uk/foru...

[Kari55 in reply to abcgirl]

Yes, I was quite surprised that they have offered it to us since 60% fertilised. I know we could have had a better result but it didn’t completely fail. Thank you for the link, I will read it. You have had an amazing result after using calcium ionophore so the method definitely works. I wish you all the best x