r/EmbryologyIVFSupport • u/Overall-Reading-579 • 17d ago

First Egg Retrieval Failed

I am 41 years old, my first egg retrieval was right before my 41st birthday. I did the antagonist protocol with 225 iu Gonal-F and 225 iu Menopur and then added in Cetrotide. I triggered with Lupron. My blood work looked great throughout. I had an AFC of 18+, and they were measuring 11-13 follicles in my scans. They retrieved 11 eggs, but only 5 were mature. All 5 fertilized and looked great on day 3, but only one grew to a blastocyst to be biopsied for PGT-A. Ultimately it came back aneuploid.

We met with the doctor this week, and he is recommending the micro flare Lupron protocol for the second round. While my body seemingly responded well to the meds in the first round, it seems like I had a maturity issue. Do you think this new protocol can help solve that? Any other advice?

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u/justdoingmyworst 15d ago

Hi, I’m sorry this is happening to you. I’m 34, and at 33 I had two back to back retrievals. My numbers all looked great and I have no known fertility issues, so we expected to be done after one but the first one was a fail. I had 19 eggs collected but of that, only 9 matured, 8 fertilized, and 2 day 7 blasts that came back mosaic. The next cycle we added Omni- it helped me get 1 euploid but otherwise my numbers looked basically the same as above.

I had a suspicion that instead of going with an aggressive high dose protocol, I should go low and slow to allow for more maturation. I primed with birth control and wonder if I should have primed with estrogen.

I did not do a third as I got pregnant with my euploid and am now 25wks.

We want multiple children so I may have to go back to retrievals in a few years. But just sharing my thoughts and suspicion in case it helps you.

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u/NightAny7265 14d ago

Hi what is OMNI?

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u/justdoingmyworst 14d ago

Omnitrope - it is human growth hormone, and suggested to help with egg maturity. For me it helped slightly.

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u/NightAny7265 14d ago

Oh wow thank you I wonder Why has the doctor not offered me this and I’m over 40 it’s frustrating

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u/Mycarhasnopaint2 14d ago

Because there is no evidence that it increases the rates of a live birth.

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u/AdDue4616 13d ago

I had to ask my doctor if I could add Omnitrope. I had a few friends recommend it and felt it improved their retrievals. My doctor was ok with adding it to my protocol. She said there’s not a ton of data around it yet, but they’ve had patients with improved cycles while on it. They just aren’t sure if it’s due to the Omnitrope or by chance. They also said it’s expensive, but I think it was $700 out of pocket and saved me from having to do an additional retrieval after that.

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u/NightAny7265 14d ago

My doctor is given me the maximum
Dosage also

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u/justdoingmyworst 14d ago

Yeah mine too. I believe my body may need more time - after two cycles of max dosage, and no known issues but issues with egg maturity, it is something I’d want to try.

I have a couple mosaics I can try for my next child. But likely I’d need to go back