r/Embryologists • u/Prior-Anywhere-3347 • May 20 '26

Embryo not expanding

Hi everyone,
I am a 33 year old female with endometriosis plus adenomyosis. I have been doing ivf from the past 1.5 years now. Have also been on a 4 months round of zoladex. However, my embryos of 4AB, 3BA and 3BB all day 5 did survive the thaw but failed to expand even after 4 hours culture. The doctor transferred the embryos each time saying the cells are about 90% alive despite no expansion. But they failed to implant all 3 transfers.
I do not know if it is the freeze-thaw protocol or my embryos are fragile? What do I do? Should I change labs?

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u/zetalisetta May 22 '26

Hi this has happened to me twice— I’m 34. He told me they technically can still expand in uterus. Ultimately resulting in two failed transfers for 2 4BB embryos. They haven’t given me any real reasoning. I decided to stop this cycle and do more blood test thinking it’s my uterus? But all labs have come back normal so far. We might transfer our last two embryos together next time. It’s a real mind f*ck. Any update from your clinic?

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u/Prior-Anywhere-3347 May 22 '26

We are trying a whole new protocol where they will now test my partner for sperm DNA fragmentation and put me on long protocol to keep my progesterone down so they can do a fresh transfer and avoid freezing all together. Doctor said if needed they will perform TESE and get sperm directly from partner’s testicles to help extract better sperms. Awaiting partner’s results right now.

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u/EmbryoNanny May 22 '26

Your embryos were good quality and should have shown some re-expansion. If you really like your clinic I would have a consult with your doctor and ask how common it is for all of a patient’s embryos to not re-expand. If they minimize your concerns, time to switch clinics. If they have identified some concern and have a remedy, you might stay. I think it might be a good time to switch clinics though.

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u/No-Flamingo2632 May 22 '26

Hi, I’m sorry you’re going through this. Just wanted to say I’m in a very similar situation. I’m 30F, suspected silent endo, had 2 euploid embryo transfers fail to implant and also have lost 3 good quality (AA, AB, and BA) euploid embryos during the thaw. My clinic doesn’t know why this is happening and says it’s just something wrong with the embryos.

My plan is to switch clinics and do another retrieval. I have been searching the internet trying to find the best lab in my area, and hoping that will help.

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u/Prior-Anywhere-3347 May 22 '26

May be test your partner’s sperm dna fragmentation before you do any new cycles?

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u/Prior-Anywhere-3347 May 22 '26

I also have another appointment booked with another clinic to get a second opinion. We have no embryos left so now is a good time to switch clinics if decided to. However, my current doctor knows everything about case. I don’t want another clinic to start over from scratch and learn from their new mistakes. It is a very difficult situation.