Blastocyst development and grading feedback/report from clinic

[konyaga]

Hi everyone, I'd like to hear from as many of you as possible about these questions:

1. How were you informed about the embryo cultivation results?

E.g. via email, formal report, client portal or a briefing call

2. If they contacted you to let you know, was it an admin/coordinator or a clinician?

3. How much detail did they give you?

E.g. blastocyst grading, retrospective insights from the development process

The reason I'm asking is that so far our current clinic has only given us the state of embryo development such as "expanded blastocyst" or "hatching blastocyst", no information on the grades of the blasts

When we asked to speak to a doctor to be debriefed on the embryo cultivation results, they refused to schedule it before the PGT-A results are available. Is that normal?

For us patients, whether it's 5AB or 4BC makes a huge difference in our expectations and future planning, and the lack of communicativeness on their end is eroding our trust with the clinic.

[Hidden]

Hi,My clinic have called us with daily updates. Or maybe they didint call on day 2 and leave them for a day. Its an embryologist that calls me. They explain if they are blastocyst or if they have fragmentation. They also let me know the grade. The last call I had was about my 2 that are now frozen, both 3cb or 3bc. They told me that I have 50percent less chance of these working then a grade 1 embro. So I felt they gave me enough detail and explaining. The timing of the calls has alwasy botherd me as both times I've been on the 2 week wait and ita stressed me out a lot but I get why I needed to be updated in that time frame. Wishing you luck xx

[butterfliez]

Hi at my clinic the embryologist calls with updates on fertilisation, then wait to day 3 for the next update which they describe how many cells and then on day 5 they informed me of the final results and if they had made it to blastocyst. in my first two cycles they just told us the embryo quality in words like top quality, average and so on quite vague.

In my last egg collection they informed us of the embryo grades and described them so we had two 4bc blastocyst which were described as "good/average". this was the first time hearing grades and to be honest I felt more anxious after being given the grades. Although I agree that they should inform you of them regardless of the outcome. They only usually described the state of the embryos on transfer day eg expanded to 90%, one was described as collapsed after thaw. I have never had written detail on this always over the phone. x

[Twiglet2]

It’s the embryologist that calls us. we get an update on day 5 with grading and blastocyst. I also asked for a day 3 update which was very vague just told me how many cells etc. we didn’t have testing but we discussed it and I believe they said visual external grading is irrelevant if they are going to do the actual testing as a ‘perfect’ 5AA could be abnormal where as a 4CC could be euploid so perhaps that’s why they aren’t giving you their visual grading at this stage? They can also change grading after the thaw when you go to use them (I’ve had this a few times sometimes for the better!) A bit strange though as I haven’t heard of that before not giving any grade at all. To be honest none of my ‘top grade’ embryos worked and the lower grade did so I don’t place too much on that anymore, dk t even remember what the one I currently have transferred in 2WW for is other than a blastocyst 🙈 xx

[Floraandfauna]

hi, we were informed via phone call from an embryologist on day 1,3 and 5. They were quite brief at first but I always pushed for more info, how many cells etc. they didn’t give grades just “good quality or bad quality” (usually bad in our case 🤦‍♀️!)

[Kittykat198]

I’ve had 3 egg collections and was called by the embryologist on the days after egg collection and day 3 and then on last round I asked for daily calls and got them.

They gave detail of grading and fragmentation but they don’t do the letter grading so hard to compare. We also had caremaps which is a whole other system, as part of our package which I do not rate at all.

We were then sent a letter on day 6 with how many were frozen but had to call the embryologists to find out their grading.

We didn’t do pgta so I can’t comment on that bit.

I know this is terribly cliche but getting to the point where they froze them and can test them is pretty good regardless of grade. I am pregnant with my 5th transfer and 6th embryo and he was the worst graded of the lot with a 7% chance of implanting.

Best of luck.

[Daughterofaking]

Hi, after egg collection on day 1, the embryologist called to tell me how many fertilised and on day 3 they told me that 6 were doing well and would want me ro transfer on that day 3 while we leave the other to day 5. I transferred 2 on day 3 qnd was pregnant with that and later had 3 blast. They layer sent us an email about the whole process, the grades if the embryo and hiw many blast we have freezed. It was all good and dint have no worries. All the best. xx

[Rollercoastersmiles]

hey. My clinic called on day 1 to let us know how many fertilised and then on day 5 and then said how many were blastocystes and if there were anymore that they were still watching and then called on day 6 to let me know about these others. It was a non clinical member of staff who called but when I had questions, they sent my details to the embryology team and was contacted by an embryologist who was able to give me more info re grading etc.

It was an NHS cycle, so wonder if that makes a difference with the info shared. The image above is the email I was sent. I didn’t really have any more questions so didn’t discuss further.

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