Embryo grading

[Butterfly321]

I might sound silly but could someone explain the grading to me. We were never told the grade of our embryos other than the first time was a good grade “nice” blastocyst and the second time we had a grade 2 which was an early blastocyst and 3 grade 3’s which were multiple cell growth but not reached the blastocyst stage. Thanks

[Florencenightingale]

As I understand it its numbers 5-1. 5 being the best. Something to do with fragmentation. Then A-D for the baby (which I think is the outer layer) and A-D for the placenta (which I think is the inner part).

So top grade is 5AA, 5AB, 5BA and so on.

I have seen others grading them with another system but dont understand it. However, I've known people to have a 5AA transferred and it's been unsuccessful. My friend had a frozen transfer with 3BB and is pregnant. So it's not always on the numbers.

Hope this helps.xx

[Butterfly321 in reply to Florencenightingale]

Thank you so much. Yes this helps. I wasn’t given any grading with ours so I will call and find out x

[Florencenightingale in reply to Butterfly321]

Yeah I think I'd want to know too. Hopefully you get some answers. We got a sheet with our grading and pictures of the embryo developing. We only had one x

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Butterfly. Grading is a complicated business, and clinics have their own systems. Obviously anything grade 5 is the best. Anything below that is ok but is slightly slower in multiplying. A grade 4 or 3 can carry on developing once transferred, so they are worth giving them a go. Check with your clinic if you can, and see what system they use. Hope all goes well. Diane

[Butterfly321 in reply to DianeArnold]

Thank you. I will call on Monday and ask for information on our embryos. It’s nice to have a clear picture of what has happened x

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK in reply to Butterfly321]

Good luck! Diane xx

[CharlieW1985]

I thought the numbers reflect the age in days and the letters reflect the quality?