While we certainly do hope that your first IVF attempt is the beginning of your new family, there is a small chance that the IVF attempt may be unsuccessful.
An unsuccessful IVF cycle can be emotionally and financially devastating.
If the first IVF attempt should be unsuccessful, there are solutions that you can take. First, it's important to understand why the IVF failed.
Reasons IVF Cycles Fail
Failed IVF can refer to several different situations:
- IVF cycle cancellation, prior to egg retrieval, because not enough follicles are produced;
- No or only inadequate quality eggs are retrieved;
- Retrieved eggs don't fertilize of fertilize inadequately;
- As a consequence no embryo may be available for transfer into the uterus;
- Transferred embryos may not implant for a variety of reasons;
- And that, of course, will mean no pregnancy after embryo transfer.
What Solutions do we have after a Failed IVF Attempt?
Your age, your lifestyle — such as weight, smoking and alcohol intake – and how well you respond to stimulation, sperm quality, egg quality, embryo quality and embryo transfer all have bearing on the outcome of each cycle.
Fertility experts have many options to choose only the best sperm, best embryos, and even help to boost chances of implantation, using various techniques and technologies:
Pre-implantation Genetic Screening: Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS) identifies which of your embryos have normal chromosome numbers, to increase your chances of successful pregnancy.
ICSI: Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is where we take a single healthy sperm and inject it directly into the egg for fertilization. ICSI prevents the egg being fertilized by sperm that isn’t viable for healthy pregnancy.
Sperm DNA damage test: DNA damage in sperm is a hidden cause of failed IVF cycles and miscarriage.
Egg Donation:
This method of assisted reproduction is also
useful in many other situations and circumstances — for women with
ovarian failure, hereditary diseases, chromosomal abnormalities, or
those affected by endometriosis. Egg donation makes the most of our modern-day knowledge and
understanding of biology, genetics, fertility and technology, to enable women and couples who may be struggling or unable to conceive a
child the gift of life. The process involves a donor giving her eggs
to the individual or couple to pursue IVF or Surrogacy.