How to Increase IVF Success Rates?
Avoid excessive physical activities such as jogging or lifting heavy things. You can practice yoga to relieve your mind as well as improve your body’s blood circulation. Make sure you get enough rest.
Do not take medications or drugs without consulting your doctor because it may harm the implantation process and development of your embryo during the first 3 months of your pregnancy. Avoid herbal or traditional Chinese medication.
Remember to take your progesterone medication daily and on time. This medication is insertion vaginally or by injection. Progesterone is essential for the early implantation of your embryo.
Stop alcohol intake and smoking during your IVF cycle and throughout the pregnancy because both of these contain substances that may increase the risk of failed implantation, miscarriage, or abnormal baby.
Drink plenty of water to improve hydration, and blood circulation and maintain cell integrity.
If your work involves a lot of traveling, stress, and severe physical activities, you are advised to take one week’s leave after the embryo transfer.
Store the vaginal pessary in a cool place (below 20°C) to prevent deterioration of its efficacy.
Avoid intercourse for at least 3 weeks after the embryo transfer because semen contains prostaglandin which causes the uterus to contract and disturb the implantation of the embryo.
Choose the center that is near to your home, so that can reduce the stress of repeated traveling from your home to the IVF center as it will affect the success rates. For example, for those who are staying in Klang better choose a center within Klang rather than travel all the way to Singapore.
Seek infertility treatment early because increasing age will result in poor quality eggs and IVF success rates. Soon after OPU, look out for the following:
- Soon after OPU, look out for the following:
Vaginal bleeding is usually spotty and should not be more than 1/4 pad. If it is more than 1/4 pad, please consult our doctor. (Tel: 03-33412277)
Abdominal or tummy pain which is often due to leakage of blood from ovaries after OPU can be released by taking paracetamol 650mg. If the pain persists, consult our doctor. (Tel: 03-33412277)
If you follow the IVF treatment cycle and precautions above, it will increase your ivf success rate, and your success rate of achieving pregnancy is good.
Why IVF Cycle Failed?
The first IVF baby, Louise Brown was born on July 25, 1978, until today over 3 million babies have been born using IVF. The IVF success rate increased dramatically compared to the past. Today patients who undergo IVF cycle treatment are more likely to get pregnant than not.
However, there are still patients who required 2nd or 3rd IVF cycle. After this initial IVF cycle, every measure needs to be taken to improve the outcome of the next cycle. Identification of factors that link to the IVF cycle will help.
For normal endometrium to grow and be ready for implantation requires adequate blood flow to the underlying spiral vessel, adequate estrogen level, and no abnormalities of the uterus such as fibroid and congenital abnormalities. If the endometrium growth is poor then the patient can be treated using exogenous estrogen.
Sometimes the endometrium can be damaged due to previous infection or traumatic D & C. There will be fibrous adhesion between the uterine walls. This area would have an absence of endometrium to prevent implantation. This uterine adhesion and Ashermann syndrome can be easily diagnosed via a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) or hysteroscopy.
The adhesion can be removed surgically followed by IUCD insertion to prevent re-adhesion. However, there are still some patients who have a normal uterus, normal uterine blood flow, and good estrogen level & yet the endometrium remains persistently. This is because the end-organ damage and the endometrium do not respond to estrogen in the normal way.
For many years it was believed that the best time for embryo transfer is on the 2nd day after egg retrieval. The aim of the embryologist during the embryo transfer is to select the best embryo that has the best chance to implant and develop into the fetus. May of the failed implantation is due to chromosomal or genetic abnormalities of the embryos (some said it is as high as 50%).
The criteria used by the embryologist to select the most viable embryo are 4 cell embryo, equal size blastomere, absence of fragmentation, and mono-nucleusity.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been suggested to determine the normality of the embryo before transfer. However, many studies have shown that PGD causes embryo damage & does not help to increase IVF success rate. PGD is used in cases where the patient suffers recurrent miscarriages or the couples have a high risk of genetically inherited diseases that can be diagnosed through PGD.
Another reason for failed implantation is failed hatching. Normally the embryo will hatch through the zona pellucida on day 5. There is thinning followed by the opening of a tiny hole on the zona pellucida which enables it to be extruded and implanted in the endometrium. AH will help these patients who have failed.
It is estimated that 30% of female infertility is caused by a hormone imbalance of some sort. These patients with hormone imbalance were having irregular ovulation and irregular menses. We can determine your hormone profile by measuring your FSH level, LH level, progesterone on day 21, and prolactin level at any time.
During the IVF cycle, these hormone imbalances can be corrected by exogenous hormones (oral, injection, or vaginal route). The most common hormonal imbalance that causes fail IVF cycle is a luteal deficiency.
During the luteal phase, an adequate amount of progesterone is essential for successful implantation. The progesterone will increase the blood flow to the endometrium, increase the glycogen for improving the embryo, decrease uterine muscle contraction, and decrease uterus mobility. The endometrium needs to be quiescence. That’s why all IVF cycles requires progesterone support either in oral tablets, injections and vaginal pessaries.
The immune system or antibodies in the body is designed to protect women from infection by microorganisms. The microorganisms that enter the body will be attacked and neutralized by the lymphocyte or the antibodies that are produced by the immune system.
The immune system is necessary to control infection. Normally this immune system should not interact with the embryo which is implanted in the endometrium.
In some cases complex immunological interactions take place between the women’s immune cells called NK cells and the embryo, resulting in the destruction of the blastomere and failed implantation. There are also antibodies that produce from B lymphocyte that circulates in the body tissue and act on this embryo and her own endometrium leading to an IVF cycle & recurrent miscarriage.
IVF cycle itself is stressful and if there are other events in your life that further add to this stress then it may affect your immune system, causes an imbalance of hormone, and increase uterine contraction and endometrium mobility. All these will add up and can lead to failed IVF cycle. A good understanding of the IVF cycle, what to expect in the IVF cycle, and a good supporting partner will help to decrease your stress level.
Any routine that you have been doing physically stressful such as aerobics, mountain climbing, and long journey traveling should be prevented during IVF because these activities will stress your body system and increase uterine mobility.
Being overweight, smoking and alcohol also affect IVF outcomes of the IVF process. Many studies have shown women with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25 have an increased risk of miscarriage and failed IVF cycle compared with normal-weight women.
Smoking and alcohol also affect the implantation of the endometrium by decreasing the uterine blood flow. If you are going through IVF treatment you should stop smoking, take alcohol and control your body weight if you are obese.
Why IVF Cycle Failed?
The first IVF baby, Louise Brown was born on July 25, 1978, until today over 3 million babies have been born using IVF. The IVF success rate increased dramatically compared to the past. Today patients who undergo IVF cycle treatment are more likely to get pregnant than not.
However, there are still patients who required 2nd or 3rd IVF cycle. After this initial IVF cycle, every measure needs to be taken to improve the outcome of the next cycle. Identification of factors that link to the IVF cycle will help.
For normal endometrium to grow and be ready for implantation requires adequate blood flow to the underlying spiral vessel, adequate estrogen level, and no abnormalities of the uterus such as fibroid and congenital abnormalities. If the endometrium growth is poor then the patient can be treated using exogenous estrogen.
Sometimes the endometrium can be damaged due to previous infection or traumatic D & C. There will be fibrous adhesion between the uterine walls. This area would have an absence of endometrium to prevent implantation. This uterine adhesion and Ashermann syndrome can be easily diagnosed via a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) or hysteroscopy.
The adhesion can be removed surgically followed by IUCD insertion to prevent re-adhesion. However, there are still some patients who have a normal uterus, normal uterine blood flow, and good estrogen level & yet the endometrium remains persistently. This is because the end-organ damage and the endometrium do not respond to estrogen in the normal way.
For many years it was believed that the best time for embryo transfer is on the 2nd day after egg retrieval. The aim of the embryologist during the embryo transfer is to select the best embryo that has the best chance to implant and develop into the fetus. May of the failed implantation is due to chromosomal or genetic abnormalities of the embryos (some said it is as high as 50%).
The criteria used by the embryologist to select the most viable embryo are 4 cell embryo, equal size blastomere, absence of fragmentation, and mono-nucleusity.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been suggested to determine the normality of the embryo before transfer. However, many studies have shown that PGD causes embryo damage & does not help to increase IVF success rate. PGD is used in cases where the patient suffers recurrent miscarriages or the couples have a high risk of genetically inherited diseases that can be diagnosed through PGD.
Another reason for failed implantation is failed hatching. Normally the embryo will hatch through the zona pellucida on day 5. There is thinning followed by the opening of a tiny hole on the zona pellucida which enables it to be extruded and implanted in the endometrium. AH will help these patients who have failed.
It is estimated that 30% of female infertility is caused by a hormone imbalance of some sort. These patients with hormone imbalance were having irregular ovulation and irregular menses. We can determine your hormone profile by measuring your FSH level, LH level, progesterone on day 21, and prolactin level at any time.
During the IVF cycle, these hormone imbalances can be corrected by exogenous hormones (oral, injection, or vaginal route). The most common hormonal imbalance that causes fail IVF cycle is a luteal deficiency.
During the luteal phase, an adequate amount of progesterone is essential for successful implantation. The progesterone will increase the blood flow to the endometrium, increase the glycogen for improving the embryo, decrease uterine muscle contraction, and decrease uterus mobility. The endometrium needs to be quiescence. That’s why all IVF cycles requires progesterone support either in oral tablets, injections and vaginal pessaries.
The immune system or antibodies in the body is designed to protect women from infection by microorganisms. The microorganisms that enter the body will be attacked and neutralized by the lymphocyte or the antibodies that are produced by the immune system.
The immune system is necessary to control infection. Normally this immune system should not interact with the embryo which is implanted in the endometrium.
In some cases complex immunological interactions take place between the women’s immune cells called NK cells and the embryo, resulting in the destruction of the blastomere and failed implantation. There are also antibodies that produce from B lymphocyte that circulates in the body tissue and act on this embryo and her own endometrium leading to an IVF cycle & recurrent miscarriage.
IVF cycle itself is stressful and if there are other events in your life that further add to this stress then it may affect your immune system, causes an imbalance of hormone, and increase uterine contraction and endometrium mobility. All these will add up and can lead to failed IVF cycle. A good understanding of the IVF cycle, what to expect in the IVF cycle, and a good supporting partner will help to decrease your stress level.
Any routine that you have been doing physically stressful such as aerobics, mountain climbing, and long journey traveling should be prevented during IVF because these activities will stress your body system and increase uterine mobility.
Being overweight, smoking and alcohol also affect IVF outcomes of the IVF process. Many studies have shown women with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25 have an increased risk of miscarriage and failed IVF cycle compared with normal-weight women.
Smoking and alcohol also affect the implantation of the endometrium by decreasing the uterine blood flow. If you are going through IVF treatment you should stop smoking, take alcohol and control your body weight if you are obese.
