Have you recently undergone IVF treatments? Then, you must know how tiring the entire process is. From ovulation induction to confirming your pregnancy, IVF can test your patience and endurance several times.
IVF (In vitro fertilization) has the highest success rate among all other fertility treatments. It is the treatments doctors suggest when all the other treatments do not give the desired results.
Even so, IVF does not guarantee pregnancy for all patients. In India, the average success rate of IVF is around 50–60%.
So, what happens when you fail the IVF treatments repeatedly? Is there anything you can do to improve your chances of pregnancy? Read this article to learn all about the causes of IVF failures and what you can do to ensure success in future cycles.
What to Do Next After 3 Failed IVF Cycles?
Experience 3 IVF failures can be distressing and make you want to quit the treatment. However, you should know that this is not the end of the road, and there are ways you can follow to overcome this failure and move forward in your IVF journey.
Here are our suggestions on what you can do after 3 failed IVF cycles. These tips also help you increase your chances of having a successful pregnancy in the next cycle.
Find out the Cause of IVF Failure
The first thing you must do after experiencing an IVF failure is understand why your IVF cycle failed. We have discussed the reasons for IVF failure above. Most times, your IVF failure would have happened because of one of them.
You can also discuss with your doctor and check if you have any other complications that prevent you from getting pregnant.
Try Using Donor Eggs
You can choose this option if you have poor-quality eggs. Donor eggs are high-quality eggs (oocytes) that are collected from a third-party woman. These women are mostly between 21 and 30 years of age and are highly fertile without any health or infertility conditions.
Using their eggs in place of yours can increase your chances of pregnancy. You can discuss with your partner and decide if you wish to use donor eggs for your IVF cycle.
Undergo Frozen Embryo Transfer
According to studies, frozen embryo transfer has been proven to have more success rates than fresh embryo transfer. Frozen embryo transfer is the procedure of freezing healthy embryos so that they can be used in future cycles.
When it is time for embryo transfer, the frozen embryos are thawed and brought to optimum temperature. This is a popular method that most fertility hospitals follow to increase the chances of pregnancy.
Attempt IVF One More Time
On average, more than 50% of patients getting IVF treatments need to undergo multiple IVF cycles depends on their age to get pregnant. So, don’t feel down if you can’t get pregnant in your third cycle.
Discuss with your doctor, understand the causes of previous IVF failures, take the necessary precautions, and undergo one more IVF treatment.
Find Out the Common Causes of IVF Failure
IVF failure is normal. According to studies, only 40% of the women undergoing IVF achieve pregnancy in their first cycle. Mist women need to undergo at least three of four cycles to get pregnant.
So, failing in your IVF cycles is not wrong. But not knowing what caused IVF failure and not rectifying those issues is wrong. Below are some of the major reasons for IVF failures. You can discuss with your fertility doctor and identify which of these issues prevent you from getting pregnant.
Quality of Eggs
The Quality of your egg is one of the most important factors that determine the success of your IVF treatments. A good quality egg is required for successful implantation and pregnancy.
A poor-quality egg has minimal chances of fertilization. Even if it gets fertilized and implants into the uterine lining, you have a high risk of miscarriage or the embryo having chromosomal abnormalities.
If you have repeated IVF failures, test the quality of your eggs and take the necessary steps before starting the next cycle.
Quality of Sperms
Not only your eggs but also your partner’s sperm quality determines your IVF success. A low-quality sperm will find it difficult to swim to the egg and fertilize it.
A good quality sperm has good motility (movement) and morphology (shape), making it easier for the sperm to fertilize the egg. A low-quality sperm will also have chromosomal issues, making the developing embryo also chromosomally abnormal.
Chromosomal problems
As we discussed above, the possibility of chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo is high when the quality of the egg and sperm is low. The risk of chromosomal abnormalities also increases if the age of the male and female partners is above 40.
This leads to aneuploidy, a condition where the chromosomes have less or more chromosomes than the normal level.
Autoimmune disorders
Your immune system also plays an important role in a successful embryo implantation. An autoimmune disorder is when your body considers the transferred embryo as a foreign body and attacks it. This can lead to IVF failure.
Unhealthy Lifestyle
You also need to look into your lifestyle choices when determining the causes of IVF failure. Harmful habits like smoking, drinking, and drugs are one of the main reasons for infertility.
Conclusion
Studies have proven that the success rate of your IVF treatment increases as the number of cycles increases. An average woman with a 30% success rate in her first cycle will have around 50% success rate in her second cycle and around 65% success rate in her third.
So, don’t lose hope and believe in yourself and your fertility centre to achieve success in your fertility treatments.
FAQs
Yes, if you have no serious fertility issues and the quality of your embryo is high, you have a high chance of getting pregnant within your first IVF cycle. But don’t keep your expectations high, as only 40% of women have been recorded to have IVF success during their first cycle.
If your IVF treatment does not give you any results and repeatedly fails, there are other treatment options for you to choose. Below are some of those options:
- ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection),
- IMSI (Intracytoplasmic Morphologically selected Sperm Injection),
- Donor eggs, sperm, or embryo, and
- Surrogacy.
Most doctors recommend you wait for at least four to six weeks before starting the next cycle. This is to give your mind and body some time to recover from the previous cycle.
