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The second IVF cycle – Increasing Your Chances of Success

(Tuesday, September 02, 2014)

If the first IVF attempt fails, you may be wondering what you can do in the Second IVF cycle that most clinics will suggest. It is unfortunate that many couples may not get success with the first cycle of IVF results and need to go through a second cycle. You can allow a week or so to pass by before going for the second IVF cycle, in order to come to terms with the fact that the first cycle did not succeed. When you are ready, you can schedule another consultation with your specialist and try to learn about the failed attempt and make another attempt.

After the first attempt at IVF treatment has failed, the physician generally reviews the entire cycle carefully in order to learn what went wrong. Physicians go through the entire IVF process systematically - ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, the quality of the egg, the quantity of eggs, the results of the fertilization, the development of the embryo, embryo quality and the embryo transfer. There can be an issue in one or more of these areas. Your physician will discuss the protocol related to the ovarian stimulation with you. In addition, a thorough review regarding the quality of the embryo, the regularity of the cells and their fragmentation will also be reviewed and discussed. Based on the results of such a review, a plan for the second IVF cycle will be formulated, in order to maximize chances of success in your second IVF cycle.

Not all the problem in the IVF process may be fixable, but your physician will discuss the problems with you, so that you can understand what will be done differently in the second IVF cycle. He will talk about the estimated probability of success of another attempt. In most patients, many of the problems encountered in the first cycle can be addressed and successfully eliminated, in order to improve the chances of success in the second IVF attempt.

IVF treatments can fail for a number of reasons during the first attempt and this means that you must be prepared to understand what will be done in a second IVF cycle. The commonest reason for IVF failure is Failed Embryo Implantation. This failure to implant can be due to a problem related with the embryo , or it could be due to a problem related to your uterus. IVF specialists have learned that it is the developmental arrest of embryos, which is the cause of most of the failures in IVF treatment. The embryonic arrest could be due to genetic abnormalities or due to chromosomal problems in the embryos. This prevents the embryos from developing normally. This stops them from implanting.

While considering whether to do a second IVF cycle, you might wonder about the chances of success, which is a very reasonable question. There are many couples who have a successful second attempt, but the success in the second attempt depends on various factors. These include the age of the female; the egg quality and the quantity; number of eggs that are retrieved; the cause of the infertility; uterine problems; and the quality of the services the IVF clinic provides. It is important to select a good quality clinic like Negative beta HCG after IVF , in order to obtain the best medical expertise.

There’s a lot, which can be done to maximize the chances of success in your second attempt at IVF treatment. Your doctor reviews the factors that caused the failure of the first IVF cycle before making a second attempt.

Authored by : Dr Aniruddha Malpani, MD and reviewed by Dr Anjali Malpani.