Hi everyone, hope you are all surviving this horrible journey of IVF.
We are about to start a second round of ICSI (self-funded in UK). We got 4 good quality embryos from our first cycle in 2023 but had 3 failed transfers and 1 missed miscarriage at 8 weeks. Due to my age (42) we've been advised to go for PGT-A and can see the benefits of this so had planned for a freeze-all cycle. However, if we only get 1/2 embryos we think that we should just transfer these without testing as there doesn't seem much to lose by that and we don't think we can do another round (emotionally or financially).
Our clinic seems to find this request very difficult to understand and wants us to decide upfront about PGT-A testing. I feel like we are being forced into making a decision about something without having all the information (i.e. how many embryos we will get..if any...). I got a message today saying that because of our uncertainty about the testing, they have decided to change our protocol to a fresh transfer with testing of any extra embryos and that wasn't really what we were asking for.
We just wanted to know if anyone else has been in a similar experience and if they had low numbers of embryos and went ahead with PGT-A or just transferred?
Thanks
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Bluekitten9
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hi, I was a similar age and only had 1 embryo per cycle (3 cycles) so just transferred each time. In hindsight, would have been good to know if first two failures were embryo or implantation related but the third worked so I’ll never know.
I didn’t PGT test due to money as my package didn’t include it but they did include unlimited transfers so it was cheaper to transfer and see.
our clinic was the same, we just went ahead with transfers instead of PGTA. They needed to book the slot for PGTA and charge for that and change trigger to frozen protocol ahead of starting or go with fresh transfer and freeze of any others we couldn’t decide after egg collection as they had to book PGTA in advance. First round on nhs with our son we made 6 blasts but all the rest only 1 or 2 blasts and I wasn’t 100% in PGTA anyways. I’m also 42 currently 24 weeks pregnant after 5 more rounds no PGTA x
We’re likely to do pgta for the first time with our 6th collection. We’d like to know if the reason for our failed transfers is embryo related or something else even if we only get 1/2 blasts. It’s really tricky knowing what to do for the best though!
hi I hope you’re well and keeping strong xx we are in similar position, we had 1 MMC, I asked straight after the MMC for PGTA and they advised to transfer the remaining embryos first , which resulted in 2 BFN. We had another fresh cycle in June and they advised to do pgta , so we paid in advance and did consents for everything but we said to them only if we got at least 3 embryos (like first cycle ) we would test, so we prepared for transfer (progesterone) and at the end it was a write off of a cycle ( if I can call it that 😂), we only got 1 embryo which was transferred and I bled 9 days after before OTD, so we got a refund. We have done the same for next cycle already paid , which unfortunately we haven’t been able to start yet , but we have told them 1 or 2 embryos will transfer , 3 and above we’d test. Your clinic should be more supportive and flexible around this at the end if you normally get only a few embryos, like us, is right that you can make a decision after you know ! Maybe ask them again for the refund policy and just be straight with them on what you’re feeling. It’s a lot of pressure !
Hi, I think you should think about the pros and cons for testing before deciding. Have a chat with an embryologist if you can.
I had 5 good quality embryos with my first round of IVF. The first 3 resulted in miscarriage, the 4th failed to implant. Because of that (and my age - 41), I decided to have more eggs collected and PGT-A test any embryos. I couldn't face another miscarriage, so wanted to reduce the chances of that happening.
2nd round, we got 4 'good quality' embryos, but PGT-A testing showed 3 abnormal and one low grade mosaic. We tested the remaining one from the first round too and that was abnormal. I felt glad that I'd tested as they probably would have ended in mc or failed if I'd just transferred them.
3rd round, only 2 embryos suitable for testing. One is euploid ('normal'), so we're going to transfer that one and hope for the best!
With my clinic, you have to decide upfront and pay for 4 PGT-A tests in advance, but when we only got 2, they asked if I was still happy for them to test before they actually did it and we got a refund for the other 2 we paid for.
It is a personal choice. I felt that I wanted the reassurance of a euploid embryo (even though I know it still could go either way) x
Hi, I had 4 natural miscarriages before we started IVF. I’m 39 and had 3 egg collections and only 1-2 blastocysts each time. We PGT-A tested all of our embryos due to the miscarriages and only got one Euploid and one mosaic at the end. I’m currently 19 weeks pregnant with our only normal embryo, for us it was worth testing them all to avoid further miscarriages and heartbreak. According to my doctor around the age of 40 you only get about 1 in 10 euploid embryos so my advice would be to test them. With FET your body would also have the chance to recover from the egg collection and give you a better chance when you transfer the embryo.
Good luck with whatever you decide and lots of babydust. X
I'm so pleased to read this. My story is similar to yours. I have one euploid and one mosaic and am hoping for the same good news story as you. Wishing you a happy healthy rest of your pregnancy 😊
one more piece of information, because we have done PGT-A testing, later on the hospital said we don’t need to do the Down/ Edward/ Patau syndrome testing as PGT-A is far more superior. I know it is not for everyone but perhaps worth considering.
We’ve discussed doing a similar thing with our clinic and they were fine with having some flexibility. The consultant actually suggested it himself but we’d already decided that’s what we’d like to do in advance. Getting 1 embryo for testing or 10 feels like a very different situation to ‘play’ with.
If all goes well, I hope to do a fresh transfer and then test any remaining. (I’ve not had a great experience with frozen cycles so want to try fresh if we can). We can pay for the PGTA in advance and get refunded if we don’t end up using it. Not sure why your clinic is being difficult, it won’t make a difference to them 🙄
😌 thank you everyone for taking time to reply to me.. it is so helpful to hear all your individual experiences…and to know that we aren’t the only ones going through this.. these decisions are so hard.. going to show your responses to my husband and then we’ll make some decisions.. wishing you all luck on your journeys 🍀
We had our first cycle of 7 embryos/ 5 transfers. 2 negatives, 2 chemicals and one miscarriage at 9 weeks. Our clinic recommended PGTA for any embryos from our second egg collection which took place at the beginning of October.
We looked into it and although it does not increase chance of success specifically, it does mean you are not putting back abnormal embryos and so saving money and heartbreak by doing transfers that could never work. Also, do proper research, as so many people will say about the risk of them saying normal embryos are abnormal, but that in the USA where standard of testing is not so vigorously enforced. In the UK it is almost I heard of for that to happen, as there are only 4 labs UK wide that do the testing and they are very strictly monitored. I think the statistics for UK accuracy is 98% from memory.
So we paid upfront to test 5 embryos before collection. We ended up with 4 embryos for testing (one day 5 and three days 6), so got a partial refund as we didn't have the 5.
The results came back in less than 2 weeks, although we were told it would be 4 weeks. We have two normal embryos (I'm 39 years old and will be 40 next month) and they advised that the two abnormal had chromosome 22 abnormalities.
For us, it was definitely worth it and we are so glad we did it, as it saves the uncertainty and you know the embryo going back is capable of making a baby. Also the clinic have advised that our chances of a successful live birth from each of those embryos is now 50%, where as it is 17% for an untested embryo, and the miscarriage rate reduces from 25% to 14%. So we are very hopeful and pleased we did the testing.
we recently had PGT-A and frozen transfer arranged from the beginning- but I would have thought if they were scanning you during stims you could change your treatment then? We only pay for the embryos tested so that was a top up but there was a set up fee for the testing which wasn’t cheap. We only ended up with 1 that made it to day 5 of our 4 embryos.
I wonder if they want the payment for the other treatment as it’s more expensive- but then you could get it refunded if you didn’t do it?
We chose to get the 1 tested due to me being 38 - it came back as “not normal”and not recommended for transfer. As devastating as it is - I’m glad I know.
Hope you can get a plan that works for - its just extra stress we don’t need having to push for the treatment you want!!
Hello. Our first round of IVF was successful as the embryo implanted. However we had the devastating news at 14 weeks that our embryo had failed the Down/ Edward/ Patau test, and the pregnancy ended at 17 weeks. The heartbreak of feeling all your dreams are coming true, to then find out they aren't in your second trimester is traumatic. We have done PGT-A ever since. I'd recommend it - however your clinic sounds very rigid in their approach. We wish you the very best of luck.
I haven't been in exactly the same boat as we had a higher number of embryos (11), but we did do ICSI and PGT-A testing. For us, it was the right decision. Of course there was a concern that all the embryos could come back abnormal. Out of the 11, 4 came back abnormal. We had a discussion with the embryologist who told us the results and she said that 3 of the 4 had the capacity to implant but none would have resulted in a live birth due to missing chromosomes. 1, however, had the capacity to continue to grow into the 2nd or 3rd trimester, but could not have survived outside of the womb. This information confirmed to me that we did the right thing in opting for the testing.
I went ahead with transferring one of the 7 healthy embryos and I now have a 6 week old (he was the first embryo transferred from the 7).
It's a difficult decision to make and there's risks with opting for PGT-A testing (such as the possibility of having no embryos to transfer and the cost associated with the additional testing) and opting out of PGT-A testing (such as spending a lot of time potentially transferring unviable embryos and the issues that come with that).
Really hope you arrive at the right decision for you and sending you best of luck X
We’ve always had low blastcyst numbers so didn’t test. It’s deciding whether you’d be happy with having nothing to transfer if they come back with issues. The flip side of this is that we’ve had 2 miscarriages the last 2 transfers and 1 chemical (current one I am waiting to miscarry, the embryo stopped growing at 6 weeks). So, I do think for us it may be something we consider in the future once we review possible uterus issues. We’re waiting for our review with our consultant in a couple of weeks. To see what they think.
Good luck with what you decide to do next. I do think it seems a little unfair your clinic seem to be rail roading you into testing.
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