Is fertilisation rate an indicator of quality?

[LewisLongbody]

Hi all,

I had egg collection yesterday on our second round of IVF, with low AMH, we got 4 eggs, which we were delighted with, and heard this morning that all 4 fertilised! On our first round, 2 out of our 3 eggs fertilised and went on to be poor quality embryos transferred at D3, neither of which took. Since then we've done a lot of prep with diet and supplements etc.

I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience of a good fertilisation rate translating to good quality embryos?

I know this is classic IVF-waiting musings, but just wanted to throw it out there as so many people here have so much experience and expertise!

Thanks a million!

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely, all my cycles we’ve had 100% fertilisation rate, but the last cycle I added ubiquinol, omega and NAC in to both our diets and we had 8 good quality blastocysts, compared to 2 last time and 4 the time before. So I don’t necessarily think the fertilisation rate goes on to say that you’ll get high quality or lots of blastos. But, having them all fertilise is the best start you could hope for! So everything crossed they keep on growing 💖 xx

[LewisLongbody in reply to Millbanks]

Thanks so much Millbanks! I took ubiquinol, omega, and NAC as well for four months in preparation for this cycle so we’re really hoping to see an improvement in quality. But as you say, at least we’ve had the best possible start so far, thanks for your reply!

[Millbanks in reply to LewisLongbody]

Brilliant! I think it made all the difference for us. Best of luck xxx

[Lind58]

I would say it really varies - I had one cycle where all 3 fertilized and all 3 were mosaic. I had a cycle where 4 fertilized and of the 4 / 2 were good quality blastocyst. That cycle was after I changed my diet, did prp and took many supplements. Wishing you the very best outcome 🙏🏽

[LewisLongbody in reply to Lind58]

Thanks so much Lind58, we upped our supplement and diet game in preparation for this round so really hoping to see an improvement in quality, and was hoping to find some link with fertilisation rate. I guess I’ll just have to be a little more patient and see how our four little guys get on over the next few days. Thanks again for your reply!

[Lind58 in reply to LewisLongbody]

Hoping for the best for you guys🙏🏽🙏🏽

[Ivfgotadream]

For me fertilisation rate did mean better quality blastocysts - my natural modified IVF cycles where I got a couple of eggs had 100% fertilisation and top quality blastocysts. The short protocol IVF I did where fertilisation was less than 30% were much poorer quality

[LewisLongbody in reply to Ivfgotadream]

That's really interesting, thanks Ivfgotadream, given the low numbers we're getting, a natural modified cycle might be something we need to consider going forwards!

[sunset212]

Hi with mine i had a very average AMH level but surprisingly 20 eggs were collected! 17 fertilised ( one was late to fertilizize apparently) i got 8 blasts with about half of them being good quality. So as Millbanks commented i think high fertilisation rate doesn't mean a high number will reach high quality. I read its normal for around 50% of day 3 embryos to reach blastocyst stage ( day 5 /6) Q10 and folic acid is important as is Fish oil for boosting egg quality. Its great that all your eggs fertilise though. A different stim protocal might work better next time. How much did they have you on?. Some ladies react better to lower doses who have lower egg reserves with the desired result to it upping their quality rather than trying to 'blast' fewer eggs reserves with high doses. So... if you are on a high dose getting just a few eggs collected, a lower dose might be fine but the quality will be much better. you only need one good one after all xx Just a thought x

[LewisLongbody in reply to sunset212]

Many thanks for your reply and thoughts Sunset212 and it's definitely a good point about dosage, and one I've seen discussed before. I was on 375 menopur this time, and 350 gonal f in my first round. Definitely something to consider in the next round, as anything we can do to increase quality will be important when the numbers aren't on our side! Thanks again for your reply :>

[sunset212 in reply to LewisLongbody]

Your welcome hopefully a positive discussion to have with your consultant/fertility dr. My AMH was around 13.3 pmol /l ( 1.8 ng/L) and they put me on 300 ( can't remember now if menopur or gonal f sorry)

[Zebedee1971]

It really is just the combo of egg and sperm. I always got 15+ eggs and out of those, most would fertilise, 13 out of 15 or 15 out of 18... But we only ever got 2 viable blastocysts and never excellent quality... always average or good or poor. I think my age was a factor, we had to wait a while to get the right combo of egg and sperm. I know my partner had good results his side but my odd eggs were letting the side down 😂

[LewisLongbody in reply to Zebedee1971]

I'm a little worried I'm the same Zebedee1971! My husbands results are really good. Of our 4 fertilised eggs this round, we had 3 still going yesterday at Day 3 - 1 at 'good' grade, and the other 2 at 'fair'. And I did so much prep this time with diet and supplements, it's hard to know how to improve the egg quality enough! Thanks for your reply!