Abdominal egg collection

[Pos1tivelybaby]

I’m 42 and having IVF for the first time next month using my eggs. My consultant advises that my egg collection will have to be abdominal as I have large fibroids obstructing both ovaries. I’m worried as this is unusual. Please does anyone have any experience of this that they can share? Thank you!

[JoyfulStar]

Hello Pos1tivelybaby

I don’t have direct experience of this but I do have one ovary that is difficult to access. After being told by 1 clinic I had an initial consultation with that my left ovary could not be accessed, I did some research into it. Here is a link to some of the research papers I came across- it includes some case studies that you may find helpful.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

volusonclub.net/empowered-w...

I also spoke to another 2 clinics about it and both offered an unconventional way to retrieve the eggs including going via the abdomen. Although I also have fibroids, in the end my current consultant, was able to retrieve my eggs through the conventional way but will press on my abdomen to bring the left follicles into view. Has that being tried in your case?

Also, did your consultant say how large your fibroids were and were they happy to proceed with IVF despite their size? I had one large fibroid that had to be removed before commencing IVF, I have others that were left. I was also 42 years of age when I had the myomectomy.

It is also worth checking with the doctors the likelihood of the fibroids growing during stims. I have heard of this happening before.

All the best🙏🏾

[Pos1tivelybaby in reply to JoyfulStar]

Thanks so much for this! I will reading this with pleasure 😊I had conventional egg collection 7 years ago and because of the position of my fibroids, eggs were only collected from one ovary. I’m hoping technology has developed since then, but I been advised that they may not be collected the conventional way (depending on what the scans show).

Regarding the fibroids, a number of consultants have advised against removing them. The largest is about 8cm in diameter and they won’t get in the way of getting pregnant.

By some stroke of luck, I have conceived naturally I have a 3 year old, and had a miscarriage at 12 weeks last year July. I’m aware my fibroids may grow during the process and aware of the complications of carrying a baby to term with my fibroids, but as I’ve been lucky before, I’m keeping positive and everything crossed 🤞🏽

Wishing you the very best too.

[Pos1tivelybaby in reply to Pos1tivelybaby]

Oh I forgot to add that I had a myomectomy 10 years ago. They’ve grown back since but nowhere as large as they were before.