How many days between egg collection and embryo transfer?

[DotingDaisy]

Just that, really.

Does it vary between clinics, or is there a consensus of a certain number of days?

Trying to plan in IVF to fit with life - but I'm guessing that is often impossible?!

[tenbob]

It depends on the quality of the embryos, and the clinic's preference

Egg collection day is day 0
So if that is a Monday, you would get a call on Tuesday to say how many eggs have fertilised, that's day 1
Most clinics will then look to transfer the embryo(s) back on day 3, or day 5 (when they are called blastocysts)

Some clinics think they get higher success rates when they transfer blastocysts back, but the number of embryos left at day 5 is lower than day 3

So if you have a low number of eggs/embryos, clinics might want to transfer at day 3 rather than risk getting to day 5 and not having a high quality embryo to put back

[Twickerhun]

The above is totally correct but you can very very occasionally get a day 6 transfer for an embryo that need slightly more time than a day 5 embryo.

[Persipan]

It massively depends. Often, they make decisions based on the number and quality of embryos. 3 day and 5 day transfers are the norm, but different clinics will approach things differently.

A day 5 transfer will often have better chances of success, but that may well be because lots of embryos in the lab don't make it from day 3 to day 5, so the ones that do are potentially stronger anyway. On the flip side, embryos may do better on the uterus than in the lab, so where there are fewer embryos the clinic may prefer to transfer earlier.

I've had a day 3 transfer (3 eggs fertilised that cycle, on the day of transfer they used the quality of the embryos to decide which to transfer), and a day 2 transfer (only one egg fertilised normally that cycle, so there wasn't going to be anything to choose between and the clinic's view was, effectively, 'better in than out'). In both cases I knew in advance what day it would be, purely because of the low numbers. If I'd had more fertilise, then they would have called me on day 3 and either told me I'd be coming in on day 5, or else told me to drop what I was doing and come in straight away, depending on how the embryos were doing at that point.

[FingersXssd83]

I had two early blasts transferred on day 4 this cycle as my clinic isn't open on a Sunday so it can be any day between 2-6 but the norm is day 3 or 5.

I've taken off the time between collection and transfer plus a few extra days to limit worrying about taking leave at late notice.

[Rememberallball]

I’ve had day 5 transfers both cycles we’ve done. Our clinic in Cyprus tend to go for day 5 transfer if they can possibly manage it. Last cycle they froze the embryos at day 5 as the donor’s eggs had matured by day 9 of my cycle and they needed those extra days for me to catch up with them. Transfer was done on CD18.

This time egg collection was done on CD14 and embryo transfer on CD19 (last Wednesday) we fly back to UK tomorrow after a week of resting post transfer and a total of 2 weeks in Cyprus.

[DotingDaisy]

Hmm. I kind of hadn't factored in 5 days between collection and transfer. I had assumed it would be 3 (don't know why).

Now I'm worried our timings are all wrong.

[Hobbes39]

@DotingDaisy - bear in mind there is no way of knowing how long you will be on stimulation drugs for, so you won't know egg collection day until 2 days before hand. As others have said above, it then depends on how many embryos you have and how good they are. Usual day is day 3 or 5. You will only find out on day 2 which day it will be. If it helps, transfer is usually v quick - so you don't need a day off for it or anything unless you live a long way from the clinic.

[JeNeBaguetteRien]

My first clinic (NHS) absolutely would not deviate from their plan around egg collection day as they had to book the day surgery slot weeks in advance.
So I always knew it would be on X date, and due to low AMH and low number of follicles they planned a 2 day transfer from the outset.
They would increase or decrease stims dosage but they would not change number of days on stims.
For my next round I'm going to somewhere a bit more flexible. Not saying that's why it didn't work out, my expectations weren't high, but it did make me wonder if the protocol was the best it could be for me and my circumstances.

On a round about way I guess I'm saying if you're not certain around dates that's no bad thing as they are basing decisions on your body's response.

Good luck!

[sparechange]

On my last (successful) cycle, they transferred one on Day 3, and then another on day 5 - they called it a split transfer
It is quite unusual, and I don't think many clinics do it

I only had one baby, so I've always been really curious as to which of the embryos became DS. I'll never know though...

[DotingDaisy]

sparechange how fascinating! I wonder which one it was! I've never heard of that before.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

As replies said it varies how the embryos are developing

Years ago used to be 3

Technology now means many are 5 and wait to blast

In my 5 cycles of ivf I was

3
3
5
6
5