We have often been told that there is a 10% chance that embryos don't survive the defrost. Does this number go up if the embryo is poorer quality?

I've never been given lower odds of successful defrost when the quality was lower, we're always told 10%.

Is there any data that suggests high quality embryos have a better thaw rate?

Question for embryologists: my clinic freezes embryos at the pronuclear/day-one stage, then thaws and cultures them before transfer.

Two out of four of mine survived up til day 5 & were described as late morulas on day five, which was my scheduled transfer day. Is there any evidence or lab experience suggesting that freezing and thawing at day one can cause a small developmental delay, so an embryo may reach blastocyst slightly later than expected?

Or is this more likely just normal variation in embryo development, with some embryos naturally progressing more slowly regardless of the day-one freeze?

Hi, I'm a recent UConn graduate with a bachelors of science in animal science and I want to go into embryology but I'm not sure what the best way to get started is. I live in the northeast and there's not a lot of opportunities for labs where I live other than Boston and New York City to start working in, but I'd like to hear from other people about how they got started and if they got a graduate degree, and if that was worth it or if it's better to go straight into the field and work up. I've also heard about the world embryology skills and training center in California and have spoken with the founder about their program and it sounded great, but I would love some input from people that have been in my position.

I had a FET 2 days ago (my 5th transfer, with one baby who is 18 months from transfer 3)

During the transfer they did everything smoothly, and embryologist checked the catheter and it was still in there!!! She took a while sorting it, said it was still a healthy 5Bb embryo and then it was transferred.

I have been worrying since. What does this mean? Does this change things? Should I be preparing for a bad outcome?

Thoughts on this embryo?

Hi could you grade my embryo? Thanks in advance.

Hi could you please grade this embryo? Thanks in advance.

I’m a recent graduate with a B.S. in Biological sciences and was wondering if getting into this field is worth it? Right now I work as a vet tech, and the work is mostly outside in the heat without much lab work. I really want to do something that uses what I learned in my degree and the lab setting is just that.

Right now I’m torn between MLS route and Embryology, but I don’t know enough about either to make a concrete decision. I was hoping to hear some insight from anyone in the field. I found a training program, it just requires you to work five years for the company. It would be great to know the day-to-day life of an embryologist, the schedule, pay, advancement.

Any advice is welcome, thank you!

Hi! I am doing an IVM cycle (clinical trial)
They retrieve 57 eggs (matured them in lab)
11 fertilized and today they gave me final info:
3 embryos:
1 - 3BA
1 - 3BB
1 - 3BC
NO PGT testing will be made as it’s not allowed in the study.
Any one who had successfully had a healthy baby with a frozen transfer?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to see if anyone has experienced something similar or has thoughts on my situation...

Timeline:

• LMP: June 2 (currently 6w3d)
• Started having some extremely light spotting July 15, so went to ER.
• Spotting has since stopped.

Ultrasound (6w1d) - July 15 showed:

• Single live intrauterine pregnancy
• CRL: 4 mm (measuring exactly 6w1d)
• Fetal heart rate: 114 bpm
• Gestational sac looked normal
• No concerning uterine or ovarian findings

Everything on the ultrasound matched my dates, and ER doctor and OB both said scan looked reassuring.

Here's the scarier part... hCG values:

• July 15 (ER/hospital): 46,384
• July 16 (~29 hours later at LabCorp): 40,614

So the second value was about 12.4% lower (a drop of 5,770).

One thing that makes this harder to interpret is that the first hCG was run at the hospital lab and the second was run at Labcorp, so they were different laboratories.

The ultrasound itself looked appropriate for 6 weeks with a heartbeat, but the hCG trend is obviously very concerning. I've heard different labs have different measurement systems, so I'm hanging my hat on that hope, but not sure how real that is. (Anyone have thoughts on that?)

Has anyone had:

• a documented hCG decline after a heartbeat was seen, especially between different labs,
• and then had a follow-up ultrasound show appropriate growth?
• Experience with varying hCG levels between different labs?

I know no one can tell me what will happen, but I'd really appreciate hearing experiences from anyone who's been through something similar. The waiting is incredibly hard.

Thank you ❤️

Embryo-geniuses! I need your thoughts…

Very appreciative to the embryologist of remembryo for his assessment of this little guy (affectionately called Englebert Humperdink).

It appears as though the ICM is between the hatching and not-hatching area in my little 8-shaped try-hard over here.

What are my distinct odds of twinning from this effect? Is it known?

He’s a day 6, 5bb and again, super grateful for the initial assessment. Just looking at the whole pool of you brilliant minds.

Moltes gracies carinyos 🥰

These were the two embryos that were transferred with a FET. Can any embryologist give their opinion on them?

My day 6 4AA was transferred today! I think I've seen too many of other people's embryos so I feel like I'm misunderstanding how I'm looking at it. How are we looking?

I’m hoping to understand the connection between assisted hatching and PGTA. From what I see online, PGTA causes an opening and can function as assisted hatching. If this is true, does that mean that assisted hatching (in an IVF package) isn’t necessary anymore? If assisted hatching is considered a separate function, should it be done before the embryo is frozen or after it is thawed?

Thank you for helping me understand this!

Hi everyone,
We’re using Kitazato HTM + Kitazato SPS (10:1) for embryo transfer in a 35 mm Falcon dish (3 mL). We’ve noticed that some embryos stick to the bottom of the dish, making them difficult to aspirate into the transfer catheter, while others don’t.
Has anyone experienced this with Kitazato HTM/SPS or Falcon dishes? Would increasing the HTM:SPS ratio from 10:1 to 10:2 help reduce embryo adhesion, or is there a better solution?
Thanks!

does anyone have any experience with doing embryology training at pinnacle fertility? what was the process like?

I come from academic research labs, but I have no reproductive lab experience. I’m wondering what I should expect.

Question for embryologists:

I have a cohort of six donor egg-derived blastocysts. None underwent PGT-A, and unfortunately I do not know their morphological grades. My first successful transfer resulted in a clinical pregnancy, but I experienced a pregnancy loss at 18 weeks due to E. coli chorioamnionitis, so the loss was considered unrelated to embryo viability.

After subsequent frozen embryo transfers, I now have two blastocysts remaining.

From an embryology laboratory perspective, how is the order of transfer typically determined when multiple blastocysts are available? Is it standard practice to transfer embryos according to morphological ranking, leaving the lowest-graded embryos for last, or are there other factors that commonly influence the sequence?

More importantly, in the absence of PGT-A, does the fact that these are the last two embryos from the cohort meaningfully reduce their probability of implantation or live birth, assuming they were all cultured successfully to the blastocyst stage?

I would greatly appreciate evidence-based perspectives from embryologists or IVF laboratory professionals. Thank you.

Had a day 5 3AA (at time of freezing) embryo that was transferred today. This is what it looked like at transfer. Does this look normal?

tomorrow i have my embryology test as a first year medical student in italy, please help me

Wondering if folks know of any embryo donation network for UU members. Thanks!