Advise please from anyone who’s had IVIG infusions as part of IVF/FET treatment

Hi all,

Before we head into FETs with our PGS blasts I had the ‘Chicago’ blood test for NK cells amongst other things. The result suggested I had marginally raised NK cells (1.12% vs < 1% which is normal). When my blood was tested for the best treatment to lower NK cells, IVIG was most effective. I have been advised to have an IVIG infusion 2 days prior to FET and then 2 weeks following a positive pregnancy test.

I live in London...please can you message me directly if you have had this done in London, so I can get an indication of clinics / hospitals that do this and what the costs are? I have been recommended to go to the Princess Grace hospital but pricing is yet to be confirmed.

Many thanks in advance, x

[Hopeandwishes]

Hi Mogwai, I had extremely high NK cells, they were 90% and used Dr.Gorgy at the fertility and gynaecology academy on Wimpole St.

IVIG was recommended as a last resort for me, as yours are borderline you might be able to do intralipid which is much cheaper. I would definitely recommend him, after 4 years, 4 miscarriages and 4 rounds of IVF I am now 32 weeks pregnant with twins following his protocol. It was our last chance and are still extremely grateful that we worked with him. (However we needed a lot more than the drips and it did work out very expensive).

Good luck and hopefully you’ll find a clinic you’re happy with x

[Hidden in reply to Hopeandwishes]

Thanks for your reply and congratulations on your pregnancy!

I’ve heard him mentioned on this forum before. I may look into costs with him.

Apparently my blood responded best to IVIG (60-65% reduction in NK cells compared to 30-35% with intralipid and 5-10% with prednisone), hence the recommendation.

However, after three IVF pregnancies (two of which were twin), the only one that resulted in a live birth was the one I took prednisolone for the first 12 weeks (with no testing for immunity issues at that point). This may be totally coincidental, but does make me question if doing IVIG is like a sledgehammer to crack a nut when my levels are only marginally raised 🤷🏻‍♀️. I also worry that taking too much NK suppressing treatment could actually be counter productive as presumably NK cells at the right level have a role to play. I’m following up with my Consultant on these points.

Thanks again

[Cinderella5]

Hey, my levels are marginally raised too but I got told IVIG wasnt necessary and we are sticking to prednisolone and intralipids. Im also aware teh IVIG is meant to be super expensice. I see below that you got given the percentages of NK cells, would a combination of intralipids and prednisolone be worth a shot....is it worth asking who did your bloods? Obviously Im not a great example as I havent had a succesful pregnancy although I suspect thats been due to a number of other things but maybe worth an ask.xx

[Hidden in reply to Cinderella5]

Thanks so much for your response. It’s a good challenge re the combination of intralipids and prednisone. I’ll ask my Consultant, although he did call me today and an interesting point he made to me is that you need a treatment to give a threshold response of 40% to make any material impact. Just incase it’s useful to you...

What is clear is that this area is at the cutting edge and it seems clear to me that doctors interpretations of these blood results and the treatment that follows will vary, particularly as there is no substantive research to prove the case. We are the test cases for them.

He did confirm price and while eye watering, it wasn’t as horrendous as I though it was going to be.

Thanks again. And good luck on your journey.

[Cinderella5 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks! Yes I do think that its all quite "new" and different Dr's recommend different things. Good luck.xx