Hi We just completed a donor egg cycle and the RE did not discuss any particulars of the case with us during her stimulation protocol part of the process. Before the transfer, the embryologist came in and said they believe it was an egg issue. 18 embryos were retrieved and 4 were lost due to being immature or post mature, not sure which. We lost 4 bc of fertilization. We used husband frozen sperm and icsi the embryos.
When can a patient know if there was an egg issue? Is it only when the eggs are retrieved and before fertilization?
Our donor was 29 and the 6 embryos were 8 cell but b- rating. Our clinic rates embryos as a, b+, b, b-, and from what I understand most c are not viable.
Also what factors determine if an embryo can make it to the blastocyst stages during the fresh cycle?
What are the possibilities the embryos that are frozen which are 2 8 cell b, and the rest 6 cell b-, will unthaw and make it to blastocysts?
Can we lose embryo quality rating such as the b, and b- during the unthaw process or do can we lose cell count too?
thank you so much DR. Smith, I could hug you. Our struggle has been too long and too painful and beyond belief at this point
We did a donor egg cycle before this fresh one and our donor was in Romania. Yes, it was relatively a cheap cycle and my dh sperm was shipped to Romania. However the old RE dismissed the sperm chromatin test and at the time the sperm was frozen, it was questionable his levels of fragmentation. REsearch indicates that you can get pregnant but it will result in a negative result or a miscarriage if it is fragmented.
When our embryos arrived in the country, our old RE told us that we needed a surrogate. What a shock,
We did not need a surrogate, our old Re needed a success rate and wanted to postpone our transfer for another recipient couple to come forward with a more optimium uterus.
My uterus had fibroids intramural and the saline ultrasounds from 3 separate opinions contradicated one another. One RE would do the procedure and say the fibroid was submucosal and the next opinion would say it was clear& intraumural. It was about the size of 2.5 cms. One RE would say do another myomectomy and the next RE would say do not do another myomectomy bc I have severe adhesions and my bowels are adhered to the uterus and current RE says I am at an increase of porferiating the bowels and injurying them from the myomectomy bc of the location of the fibroids.
In the end i had a hysteroscopic rectoscope.
We sought a second opinion on this from a leading clinic in the northeast. I had completed only 1 ivf cycle and had completed a myomectomy prior to that surgery, however, the fibroids came back and distorted the endrormetrium lining. when the old RE did a hysteroscopy he gave me lupron depot before the procedure and his narrative report indicated everything was clear and free, however the endrometrium lining was left in the uterus and also the lining was left in and there was no way you could get a clear picture of the inside of the uterus. The narrative report could not inconclusively come up with no distortion bc the lining was left in the uterus.
Anyway it is a long sorted story. It is rather unbelievable.
But the reason we stayed with this clinic was bc they accepted these frozen Romanian donor egg embryos and the difference in standards in prescreening the donors in romania and the "reliability" of the blood test Work in Romania. essentially are we comparing apples to apples bc of the different standards of care or procedures our fertility clinics run at here in USA as opposed to Romania.
We felt bc the embryos were made in Romania, most other fertility clinics would turned away these embryos and not accepted them. Of course we lost all faith in the old Re bc of his recommendation of a surrogate.
I do have additional questions and I do from the bottome of my heart want to thank you so much for your replies. I am exhausted getting my questions ready for our post consult.
In the new FDA ruling on donors, did the stipulation of not accepting tissue from outside of the USA, is that still a stipulation?
Also would you accept a donor in your program that two of her siblings died of SIDS?
Also this donor had a hysterectomy at the age of 27 and we received an expanded medical profile on the donor and I was quite alarmed to see that the Mother of the donor had her uterus removed. This donor had her uterus removed? At the time we were evaluating donors unfortunately I suffered a major tooth/gum infection and was not thinking clearly.
Again thank you so much for your reply. You have truly blessed my day, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was so helpful your informatin, and I truly blessed. thank you and thank you.
The new FDA regulations require that all donors be tested for infectious diseases within 30 days of the egg retrieval. Furthermore, the regulations stipulate that the infectious disease testing must be performed by a laboratory licensed specifically by the FDA to perform donor screening testing (there are currently two such laboratories in the U.S.). As of today (the regs became effective today), there is no way that a U.S. program could accept these embryos.
In our program, the donor you describe would have been rejected for two reasons: the hysterectomy issue (her and her mother is too coincidental) and the SIDS issue. Looks like they are a little more relaxed about donors in Romania, which is not a good thing.
I cannot address the issues surrounding your fibroids as this requires a medial opinion (I'm not a physican). However, Dr. Jacob may have some insight for you. Try posting you history on his message board (thank heaven for cut-and-paste).
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