Approaches that Doctors Take when a Patient's IVF Cycle Fails

There's a lot of pressure on IVF doctors when an IVF cycle fails. Patients want a baby - and since they have not succeeded, they want answers as to why the cycle failed !

Three Approaches 

Doctors will take one of 3 approaches.

• Many are nihilistic- They know that the tests we have today do not help much. Our technology is still fairly crude, because the commonest cause of failed implantation is genetically abnormal embryos, and we still cannot detect or prevent these, given the fact that human reproduction is a very inefficient enterprise. The best option for most patients is to just try again, and this is what they will advise.

• Some doctors are very aggressive- They will run lots of tests and often have pre-printed " panels of tests" for testing for everything under the sun - whether it's relevant or not ! Many of these tests are very expensive and can only be done in selected laboratories, which the doctor has a " special tie-up " with !

• Some doctors are conservative- They will perform tests selectively, as needed, based on a careful analysis of the IVF cycle, and explain why these tests are needed; and what information they can provide, which can be used to modify the treatment plan for the next cycle.

Until patients learn to ask the right questions, they are unlikely to get the right answers !

Read more- Failed IVF - what next ?

Summary

There's lots of pressure on IVF doctors when an IVF cycle fails. Patients want a baby - and since they have not succeeded, they want answers as to why the cycle failed. This can be a difficult question , and we may not be able to answer it, no matter how many tests we do.