PGT-A surviving the thaw

[Gardenlady543]

I am 35, I had a fresh cycle in November, I ended up with 9 blastocytes, because of a medication reaction (a rash) the worst graded embryo was transferred, it was unsuccessful.

I had a FET cycle recently, this time it was a 1,1 fully hatched 10/10 embryoscope score embryo, I thought it must be very vigorous as it hatched as soon as it was thawed. But again it was unsuccessful.

To move forward I decided to go with PGT-A testing of the 7 remaining embryos, I’m also considering an ERA and the scratch but can’t discuss them until I’m reviewed by my specialist.

Today my embryos were biopsied, the embryologist called and told me the top graded embryo didn’t survive the thaw, I’m a bit gutted about this, it was the only embryo that was hatching, and again was a 1,1 10/10. I was told the risk of embryos not surviving the thaw was less than 5% and that the grading relates to how well an embryo would thaw, I would have thought this embryo would be very unlikely to not survive the thaw. Could it be that something went wrong in the lab? Or is it just bad luck and it would have happened on transfer day if I hadn’t tested them? I guess I’m more gutted because this was one of the two best embryos, it may have been the one they transplanted in the fresh cycle had a decision not been made to transfer the worst as I had a rash on my arms.

Of the remaining 6, 5 have been biopsied and 1 hasn’t been biopsied today, it’s 50:50 whether it will be able to be biopsied tomorrow, if it can’t then it won’t be frozen. So I’m potentially going from 7 to 5, I know 5 still seem like a lot but it could reduce further when I get the results of the PGT-A and it seems there is an implantation issue to overcome as well.

I’m still feeling that this was a sensible decision to save the future heart ache of more unsuccessful cycles which would have never have worked and hopefully it will result in a pregnancy sooner, I guess I never expected to lost the best embryo.

Sorry to hear this @Gardenlady543

Unfortunately grading is based purely on morphology I.e now the embryo looks. It tells you very little about how strong the embryo is or how normal it is.

Personally I have had a failed transfer with a top grade hatched embryo and tested 3 further top grade hatched embryos for normality and all were genetically abnormal. I am 34 so wasn’t expecting that.

It is possible but unlikely it didn’t survive the thaw due to error. With a failed thaw and a failed transfer of top graded embryos it could be more likely an embryo quality issue.

At 35 they would expect maybe a little more than half of your embryos to be normal. So from your 9 you would only really expect 4 to be normal anyway so hopefully you’ve already eliminated your abnormals and PGT-A will find which of those 5 tested are normal and you will have saved yourself any more failed transfers.

There is also a lot of anecdotal evidence on here that the ones of lower grade end up being the genetically normal ones so I wouldn’t get too caught up on grades.

I’m sorry to hear that @Gardenlady543 but hopefully your remaining ones are normal and you go on to have a successful pregnancy with one or more of them. My top graded and best frozen embryo failed to thaw with my last FET. They don’t know what happened just that I was in that ‘unlucky’ minority. It has made me nervous of the others not surviving the thaw when I need them / if I can get to that stage as after the unsuccessful FET I had an abandoned one due to lining issues.

Thanks @Igiveyouanonion it’s interesting because I guess I thought statistics were on my side this morning with 7 remaining frosties, but I’m already down to 5-6 and my top one is gone. They said a lot of the cells didn’t survive the thaw and it couldn’t recover and degraded.

It’s good to know someone else is in a similar situation. I really hope you’re right and I end up with some good news when the results come back.

What happened in your situation?

Thanks @AutumnHoping it’s good to know that others have experienced a similar situation, when they said there is a 5% risk of an embryo not surviving the thaw and they’re so optimistic about freezing and thawing, I never expected it to knock out the best embryo I had. It was a bit of a shock.

@Gardenlady543 the statistics could still be on your side of it turns out that 4 of those 5 are normal. That’s perfectly normal statistics wise.

I have one other frozen embryo that is untested that was from the cycle with my failed transfer of a too hatching blast. It’s also top graded but I’m not putting much store by that now given my others being abnormal. So I’m going to just leave it for now and do another fresh cycle and hope to get a normal there. Our consultant said he thinks we do have a chance for normal embryos so to try again.

@Igiveyouanonion that sounds like a good idea. I’ve thought about potentially doing embryo banking if I get poor results from the biopsies. I am with access fertility and have another fresh cycle as part of the package though so I will have another shot at collecting more embryos if needed. From seeing people describe PGT-A results, they seem quite variable cycle to cycle. It really is a numbers game, I hope we both start lucking out when it comes to statistics soon.

I was surprised too - I never really expected to be in the 5%. It made me nervous too - I expected the best embryos to have the best chance surviving too.

@AutumnHoping it’s difficult isn’t it, I think: why do I never fall in the statistic that get pregnant but I end up in the 5% that don’t survive the thaw. What’s your plan now for treatment, was the abandoned FET recent?

Ah same - feels like I’m always in the worst / unlucky category. Planning a natural FET next. I’m still waiting on a bleed since stopping the meds and I don’t know if I can start on that bleed or the following one. I’ve no idea what my lining would be like without any medical intervention so trying not to get my hopes up that a chance in tactics will help. But willing to try something different. Just hoping for a bleed soon! That’s the other thing - we either pray for a bleed or weep at the sight of another month on month!

@AutumnHoping I am looking into natural FET moving forward as well, there is a risk it could be cancelled as my clinic is closed on sundays. But I ended up vomiting with estradiol and reacting to progesterone. I just want to do whatever gives me the best chance. I have heard good things about natural FET, so fingers crossed for you

Oh fingers crossed your transfer doesn’t fall on a Sunday then - that’s pretty rubbish. Oh you’ve had no luck with the medications. Thankfully I haven’t had any side effects on any of the meds. My first fresh was abandoned too and changed to long protocol so I maybe expected to try a longer protocol FET first - though happy to try natural as it won’t do any harm and hopefully could try again soon after if it didn’t work.