IVF with Over 30 Retrieved Eggs and Its Success Chances

The shoulder you consider IVF with over 30 retrieved eggs? Does it improve your IVF success chances? This article will help you find out.

This article briefly discusses the egg retrieval procedure, how many of a woman’s mature eggs are commonly retrieved for IVF, how the number of retrieved eggs influences IVF success chances, and do you need over 30 retrieved eggs to have a successful IVF pregnancy.

How Many Eggs Are Commonly Retrieved in IVF?

Usually, most fertility clinics retrieve 20 mature eggs for fertilization on average. However, it is not a static number. Depending on certain fertility factors, an IVF doctor can increase or decrease the number of mature eggs retrieved.

Retrieving more eggs does not always mean higher chances of IVF success. The number of eggs to be retrieved depends on fertility factors such as the woman’s age, presence of fertility disorders, history of genetic disorders, previous pregnancies and more. A younger woman, usually in her 20s or early 30s, with high egg reserve and good egg quality has a greater chance of successfully conceiving with few retrieved eggs than a woman in her 40s who might require more mature eggs due to her diminishing egg reserve, low egg quality and increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities in the retrieved eggs.

How Does the Number of Eggs Retrieved in IVF Influence IVF Success Chances?

As mentioned above, about 20 mature eggs are usually retrieved for in-vitro fertilization, and depending on the number of mature eggs retrieved, the chances of IVF success differ.

Wonder why?

• Step 1: Mature Eggs are Retrieved

Mature eggs are retrieved or collected during the egg retrieval process, where the woman is injected with certain fertility drugs, such as clomiphene, to stimulate the ovarian follicles and cause them to produce multiple mature eggs at a time. Typically, a woman produces only one mature egg per ovulation cycle, which is only viable for fertilization for the next 24 to 48 hours. But with fertility drugs, IVF can make a woman produce several mature eggs, which are further collected for fertilization by the intended father’s sperm in a laboratory.

But do you know? Not all produced eggs are mature and of high quality to result in a healthy, sustainable pregnancy. It can be a result of low egg reserve with ageing or fertility disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Out of eggs produced through IVF ovarian stimulation, only the mature ones are retrieved.

• Step 2: Eggs are Fertilized

After successful retrieval, mature eggs are fertilized by inseminating the intended father’s sperm in a lab. However, not all retrieved eggs can fertilize successfully. On average, only about 70 to 80% of the retrieved eggs can fertilize, and this average can even lower if the couple has low egg or sperm quality issues.

• Step 3: Embryos are Incubated

After successful fertilization, the fertilized eggs are prepared for incubation in IVF incubators such as EmbryoScope. In this IVF stage, the fertilized eggs are kept in an incubator (a device that imitates the environment of a woman’s uterus) for five days, where they reach the final stage of embryo development called a blastocyst. Throughout incubation, embryologists analyze embryo development to determine which embryos have the best potential to result in a healthy, sustainable pregnancy. But on average, only 30 to 50% of the fertilized eggs could make it to day 5 (blastocyst).

• Step 4: Embryos are Checked for Chromosomal Abnormalities

After embryos are successfully incubated and ready to be transferred back to the woman’s uterus for further development, they are checked for chromosomal abnormalities. Depending on specific fertility and genetic factors, developed embryos can have chromosomal abnormalities that might cause implantation failure.

Embryologists use techniques like preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to check embryos for chromosomal abnormalities and genetic disorders. On average, only 50% of the developed embryos are found to be chromosomally typical and ideal for implantation. This average can be lower due to specific fertility and genetic factors. A woman in her 40s only has 10 to 20% of her embryos chromosomally average.

• Step 5: Embryos are Transferred for Implantation

After developed embryos are checked for chromosomal normality, embryo transfer is the final IVF stage, where the embryo is transferred back to the woman’s uterus to implant. Now, not every implanted embryo can successfully implant; with ageing or due to some reproductive issues, the chance of pregnancy per embryo transfer declines.

• Step 6: Pregnancy is Tested

After successful embryo implantation, a pregnancy test is performed after 14 days of implantation. A blood test is taken to assess human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels in the woman’s body. hCG levels in a non-pregnant woman are less than 5mIU/mL, whereas having hCG levels higher than 200mIU/mL after 14 days of embryo transfer indicates a positive pregnancy.

IVF Success Chances with Over 30 Retrieved Eggs

As mentioned earlier, more retrieved eggs do not always mean higher IVF success chances. In cases when a woman is in her 20s or early 30s and her egg reserve, egg quality, and reproductive function are good, an IVF center in Gurgaon might not want to retrieve over 30 eggs for IVF. Twenty or fewer mature eggs are a good number for retrieval.

However, when the woman is 40 and older, a doctor might consider retrieving eggs as much as 30 or more. It is because, with ageing, women significantly decline their egg reserve, egg quality, and overall reproductive function, which might cause several retrieved eggs to not make it to the embryo development (blastocyst) stage or have chromosomal abnormalities that may result in an implantation failure.

Conclusion

Always choose the right fertility clinic, like Grace Fertility, for your fertility-related treatments. It is foremost because a good fertility doctor will always ensure that you are getting the IVF treatment you require. Not all women may require IVF with over 30 retrieved eggs. Always consult with your gynaecologist or obstetrician before you decide to go for a specific way to achieve pregnancy.