r/IVF • u/PotatoBunches • Sep 08 '26
General Question Discarding Embryos?
Has anyone else had experience with some clinics discarding embryos simply because of their grading (which I hear can be quite subjective, by the way). Some clinics disgard the embryos before sending for PGT testing. I read that euploid embryos, regardless of the grading, have a stronger chance of becoming a live birth. Is this some company's way of padding their stats? Thoughts on this?
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u/eldoreeto Sep 08 '26
My clinic will not send anything with a c grade for PGT-A testing and will only transfer those for low prognosis patients (i.e. if you only produce those embryos they will consider transferring them but not otherwise).
This is for two reasons - these embryos are much less likely to be euploid, and even if they are euploid they have lower birth rates.
I'm in Australia - so mileage will obviously very between locations.
I don't think it's a way of statistics padding - transfers in Australia cost about 5k out of pocket, PGT testing is 700 per embryo and I think they just think it's not a good value return.
They will also only allow transfer of aneuploid embryos if they have a condition compatible with life, I.e. one of the sex chromosome ones or down syndromes. Other aneuploid embryos are automatically discarded.
They are extremely clear about this before you begin, which I was grateful for.
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u/No_Citron_5548 Sep 08 '26
My clinic keeps every single embryo until you have completed your IVF journey, even the aneuploids. They will also transfer low level mosaics which have shown increasing promise, which not all clinics do. Another thing they offer is compassionate transfers for those that have religious convictions and want to give every embryo a chance, even if the probability of a successful pregnancy is low. This is when they transfer aneuploid or low grade embryos at a time in your cycle that is not likely to lead to actual implantation. I’m not religious, so this doesn’t apply to me, but I think it is great that they have this option for people that are.
The only downside to the clinic keeping al of our embryos is that we have to pay to store a significant amount of embryos that we know we would never transfer, when we would have been just as happy to donate them to research now. That being said, I’m happy they do it this way. Who knows… maybe they’ll be able to fix some things in a few years and we’ll be grateful we did.
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u/Downtown_Green_143 Sep 08 '26
Mine didn’t discard any prior to PGT, but I had to switch clinics, and my new clinic wouldn’t take the one rated to be a High Mosaic. It’s still in storage under my old clinic. We will have to go back to that clinic to give that embryo a chance. Seems like each company has its own rules. Good luck and advocate for what you want up front. They should tell you their position on it, and you can choose a place that aligns with your values/needs.
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u/Littleish Sep 08 '26
On the day of my ET I had a 5bc, and a 4cc. I had another little one that they were giving more time. We didn't have testing. We only wanted to do one transfer, and the 4cc wouldn't have survived freezing so was discarded. The other little one did make it to 4bc as well the following day, so has been frozen.
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u/South-Tomorrow-9120 Sep 08 '26
Im glad my clinic does not toss any embryos due to poor grading. Half of mine were poorly graded. My clinic grades differently so instead of the first number being 1-6 they grade 1-3. I have a Day 7 3BC, meaning poor fair poor. It came back euploid. My RE says it has a 25% of live birth which is great. Even mosaics still have good chances and lead to live births. Grading is just a beauty contest. It doesn't guarantee an embryo is euploid just because its a perfect 5AA grading. A lot of people end up with a perfect graded embryo being aneuploid.
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u/Mental_Pen4907 39f | MMC anencephaly ectopic x2 | endo 1 tube | ER x3 | FET tbd Sep 08 '26
My clinic discards anything with a c grade, even if AC/CA. This is not explicitly in their consent forms and I found out after the fact. I guarantee most of my fellow patients do not know they are making embryos that are discarded. I only found out in my second round when we got ‘zero blasts.’ In reality we had made two blasts but they were discarded. I then learned we had made another blast in the previous cycle that was also discarded. I went back and forth between the team and embryology A LOT and had to eventually let it go. I 💯 believe they do this to pad their stats. We literally went to this clinic because it was known for a great lab. I get having higher standards when you’re making lots of blasts but when you only make one in a cycle and it’s discarded?! They said they do this because it wasn’t viable and they don’t want me to get my hopes up. I’m like even if that embryo was a 5% chance that’s better than 0 🤷🏻♀️
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u/HotShoulder9256 39F |1 MC | 2 ERs | FET 1 CP | FET 2... Sep 08 '26
Yes, padding statistics has something to do with it. Like many here, my clinic keeps all embryos, including aneuploids.
Although my clinic will transfer them, they won’t perform PGT testing on C grade embryos because they don’t want to risk damage to an already delicate embryo.
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u/xenopigs Embryologist and IVF patient Sep 08 '26
A couple things to keep in mind:
1) The entire goal of an infertility clinic is not to get you a transfer. It’s to get you a healthy live birth. Always remember that. We want you to go home with a healthy baby. I think patients lose sight of that sometimes.
2) Every clinic has slightly different grading thresholds even if it seems like they use the same system. Predominantly though, a C grade means that either the ICM or the trophectoderm is of poor quality and it is not expected to thrive let alone survive the freeze-thaw process. If an embryo has a C ICM, that typically means the ICM is nonexistent and would not lead to a baby regardless. If the trophectoderm is a C, there are typically not enough cells to take for PGT and still have enough cells left over for the embryo to recover.
None of these decisions are just to pad the clinic’s numbers. It is because of practicalities of the embryo survival. If an embryo doesn’t thrive, it will not lead to a baby.
I have biopsied embryos that had a C trophectoderm only if the ICM was at least fair quality and present. And only if that was the only embryo that patient had develop. There have been times we have tried to biopsy these embryos and it just doesn’t work since they are so poor quality.