I’m wondering if anyone can advise me on the embryo glue and the time lapse machine? We are having our first round of IVF in January and in December we have to choose if we want to pay for the glue and the time lapse machine as added extras? Our consultant advised us that it would be a good idea to have these however I am also aware that it’s a private clinic who obviously charge a lot of money to private patients so don’t want to have something which isn’t completely necessary. My gut feeling is to just pay the money and have it really but I’m interested to know what thoughts are on these.
Thanks in advance
Xx
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Hopingforamiracle19
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Have to read the advice on the HFEA website? There is conflicting evidence fir both of these, and so there is no evidence that they will improve success rates. Here is the link hfea.gov.uk/treatments/expl...
My clinic recommended embryo glue as a standard, though cost was additional. I did a lot of research and decided as long as there was no potential negative outcome I was happy to pay the extra. The only thing I did read is that in some studies rate of multiple pregnancy was higher when multiple embryos were transferred. This was not in all studies though to be clear.
I think you should decide if you are happy to pay the additional money knowing there is no current strong evidence that either will improve your chance of a successful outcome. Good luck x
I can’t advise on embryo glue as we weren’t offered that but my clinic offers the time lapse machine and we paid for it. As you probably know the benefit of the machine is that it constantly monitors the embryos rather than them being checked for quality once a day. There are two benefits to this.
Firstly the embryos aren’t disturbed from their environment to be checked.
Secondly, because of the continuous monitoring your clinic will be able to not only see the current state of your embryos but also how they got to that state. Eg (and bear with me because I can’t remember exact cell numbers or days so I’m making it up) if on day 2 there were 4 cells and day 3 there were 8 cells a clinic not using the embryoscope would look at them and say great, they are progressing as they should. A clinic who uses the scope might say yes, they are where they are they are supposed to be but on this particular embryo, the journey to get from 4 cells to 8 cells wasn’t as we would expect, therefore it’s less likely to implant and we would prioritise implanting the other embryos ahead of this one. Or the way the embryos develop could highlight an issue with eggs/sperm that you might not otherwise have known about.
For me, the biggest benefit to it would be in that second situation as it can help the clinic decide which to transfer. If you end up with a clear winner in terms of quality, or if they all progress normally then it probably isn’t worth it, but obviously you won’t know that until after you’ve had it done. This was me. In hindsight I think our outcomes would have been exactly the same even if we hadn’t paid for the embryoscope. But I don’t regret it just in case (plus it was an NHS round so I didn’t have to pay for any of the rest of the treatment which made the cost of it more palatable). Plus if you are successful you can ask your clinic for a cool little video showing your baby fertilising and then transforming into a blastocyst which is a little bonus.
Good luck with your journey whatever your decision.
If u dont mind m asking please @lynnr5 how much did you pay for time lapse on the nhs? There is a research in my clinic and I was asked to join but i wont be told or given a feedback until after delivery or if it failed.
It was 4 years ago that I did my fresh round so I’m struggling a bit to remember. £750 rings a bell but now I write it down that seems very expensive (I know at the time I justified whatever the cost was by saying it was an NHS round so the rest of it was free but that still seems quite high). Having said that I’ve just checked my clinic’s current price list and it’s £620 (or included as part of the overall package if a private patient) so maybe my memory is correct.
I can’t comment on the time lapse machine, but have had experience with the glue.
We had 3 frozen transfers, first 2 without the glue were BFNs. Our 3rd transfer we used the glue and ended up with our little miracle girl.
Iv no idea if the glue actually works, but I definitely felt more relaxed after the 3rd transfer so at the least I’d say the added help eased my mind and made me a lot less stressed which can only be a good thing.
Good luck when it comes, you’ve not long to wait 😊 x
Hi there. I had both. Time lapse machine means they’re not constantly opening the incubators the eggs are kept in so the environment stays stable temperature wise. I think this is a good option. We had glue twice out of 3 goes, one worked, one didn’t (I think for me it’s more about your egg being viable and your lining being right so for me jury is out in the glue still. But I think the time lapse is a good idea x
Bfp with my fresh transfer that ended in chemical with no glue, bfp with my frostie and glue. Who knows if it works, we will just try anything hey! We only had another one left in the freezer for our nhs cycle so we just thought sod it, £250 is a lot less than self funding a whole cycle! Xxxx
Thanks ladies! Just a bit of a minefield when it comes to all of this!
It’s an extra £100 for the glue and £620 for the time lapse machine...my feeling on it is just to pay it because like you say HollyT7 it’s a lot cheaper than a whole new IVF cycle which I pray to god we won’t need but who knows hey!!
Have you checked out the hfea website? There both down as amber. I didn't consider the time lapse tbh but maybe if it was my first transfer and I'd have thought a little more I would of, we just thought we would get more than what we did as our numbers were promising but then only ended up with three xx
I will check it out now. We have read lots of publications about the machine however they all seem to be from companies who make them so their findings are obviously going to be positive.
I know right! I wish they were all a set price in all clinics! Seems ludicrous that we will pay £200 more than you for the same thing! Did you go for it AliceMoonpie? Xx
Yeah we did. Our reasoning was that considering how much we were paying for the whole treatment (around £7k), £450 was a drop in the ocean and the reasons for having it (not disturbing the embryos) seemed sound. Still got a BFN, so all money down the drain, but would go for the time lapse camera again.
After two disappointing cycles with the NHS, we used a clinic that didn't charge these extra, they come as a standard. The clinic is in Norway. After the first FET with them, we now have a 4-month old little girl ❤️
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