DNA fragmentation - failed IVF

[strawberrysummer19]

Hiya

Does anyone have any experience with this pls ?

Just had our review after a failed IVF

I had low AMH 5.6
AFC 9
Retrieved 9 eggs
7 fertilised but one made to blast!

They did transfer one but was a very very low chance and nothing left to freeze

The dr said egg quality and sperm seemed fine as they fertilised and had a good fertilisation rate

But his words were ' grounded to a halt ' said was very unexpected
Anyway he's suggested dba fragmentation testing before we cycle next

If high we wants us to take a supplement which he gave a link for and then take for 3 months

We are happy with that as feel we have a plan and happy waiting 2 months

Just trying to digest as at work and just wondered if anyone has had experiences

Thank you xx

Hi, I would recommend a DNA frag test and if this comes back high a consultation with a urologist to make sure there is nothing wrong that can be fixed.

We had a similar 1st round of IVF to you. Turned out DH has DNA Frag over over 50%. When he saw a urologist he had a varicoele (wasn’t visible to us) when he had this embolized his frag dropped to 25% so just at the threshold for even needing ICSI over normal IVF.

We have since made blastocysts. I also got my testosterone checked and it was low so went on DHEA for subsequent rounds.

Definitely investigate this properly prior to your next round.

My DH also gave up baths, ate lots of nuts, gave up caffeine and alcohol and sugar, took Proceive Max, High dose of Omega 3, Vitamin D and 200 Ubiquinol.

@strawberrysummer19 yes we had a failed round of IVF in April (I also have low AMH at 2.1) and then tested my husbands DNA frag which came back at high 37%, so we're seeing a urologist on Thursday. All the other standard tests for him have always come back good so it was a bit of a shock. He's taking a supplement called Impryl on the advice of my IVF consultant but we wanted to make sure there wasn't something else going on hence seeing the urologist for a proper physics exam

@alwayswithhope @Dbop100 ah ok thank you thank you that's really helpful.

He mentioned we may need icsi

He doesn't have hot baths or drinks caffeine
Cut this out in January and I cut it out a year ago but he does drink a fair bit of alcohol which he has cut down since jan but it's still a fair bit and since our failed Ivf he's drinking a fair bit now

X

@strawberrysummer19 I've heard ICSI doesn't really help DNA frag but I'll see what the urologist says. It's defo worth checking before you do another round. We were about to move forward with egg donation so SO glad we checked this first

@Dbop100 he just said it can sometimes help using icsi but first and foremost he will need that check done.

Do you know how much this is ? My DR said they don't do it but has given me a link
Said he thinks from memory it's around £400 marker ?

Seems quite reasonable

But our drugs are £1500 as I needed high dose so if we do need icsi we are going to need to save before our next cycle!!! But I'm happy and feel I have a plan x

If his DNA frag is high then he will need to give up alcohol. It’s for 3 months which is the time it takes new sperm to generate. It won’t kill him!!

Yes I would definitely do ICSI next time.

I think the test is about £400/£500, then if you need to see a urologist the consultation is about £300 plus other tests which could be another £700 - so I'd put aside that much just incase - BUT it's still cheaper than another round that might fail. Plus saves you some heartache.

My husband is 37, doesn't smoke, drinks socially, is a bit unfit but not too bad, really hoping there is something 'wrong' that can be easily fixed like an infection or a varicose vein, just to make things simple.

What kind of protocol did you do? I did Natural Modified so way less drugs but aiming for quality over quantity- we got 2 eggs and 1 good quality day 5 blast but sadly it didn't implant - but as my AFC is 5 we were never going to get many eggs anyway so the idea was not to fry them with too high a dose of stims

@alwayswithhope yes I'm quite aware it won't kill him!!! His sperm count was good and we have dieted really well and take supplements and as I've stated really cut down alcohol since jan but since having our failed ivf the other day then yeah he's drinking a fair bit. So this has come as a shock.

Yes totally agree that this is better than doing another round
Although it's paid for so this is all extra cost but obviously we will do it x

We did a short protocol and high dose of stims as they AMH is 5.6 but I would like to know if I could do more natural one
Like why try and force more eggs ?
But my dr just said he wouldn't change my meds as it was a great result

But 1st things first we need to have this check done x

I know this is an old thread, but any updates? Xx

My husband has a severe varocicele that when we had embolised, the surgeon couldn't find the vein so it was still there when we did ICSI. He took proxeed for 3 months and also ejaculated every other day to minimise oxidisation and damage, just as he couldnt do anything else as the varico ele was still there. He also stopped drinking coffee and alcohol as an added measure.

We got 7 eggs and all made it to day 5, though one slowed so wasn't frozen. Fresh didn't take but first frozen one did and he's now 15 months. My husbands parameters were all terribly low, and although we didn't get the dna fragmentation test I do think the ejaculqtion helped, you only need a few for ICSI. Every day after day 3 I expected to hear they had arrested but they were great and all good or great quality too.

Thanks so much for your response! Apologies are you the OP? Congratulations on your baby 🩵🩵🩵

my hubby has a low count with no clear cause so about to get a dns frag test and then ICSI so putting the feelers out really for success stories with a raised DNA frag but no other cause!!

Did your hubby have any sperm abnormalities? Xxx

@OneHeapedTeaspoonOfSugar oh sorry I did what I tend to do in a rush and not check the dates of the post or the last read! I keep up with varicocele threads or dna fragmentation so chimed in without looking at ops posts sorry! I'm not the op, just read ops first post and assumed was still active so added my experience.

Yes he had low morphology, low count, low everything. Impossible to conceive naturally as we knew from the long timenwe tried to no avail! His varicocele is severe and it was there for ivf and still there now so I'd imagine oxidisation is pretty high though we didn't get it checked, as we couldn't fix the varicicele so didn't want to know our potentially low chances of success going into ivf. Unexpectedly had a great round :)

Hi @Imisscoffee2021 just reading your update and congratulations on you child ! And so lovely to hear positive results for low parameters and DNA fragments etc. my partner has low number also (quite sever) and we are so low we can't even test DNA fragmentation so good to know there is still hope !

Wow thank you for replying!! Absolutely gives us the confidence that this can work!! If you don’t mind me asking, how old were you and hubby when you had the round?

I agree there’s something to be said for waiting to see how things pan out, not having the stress of poor results tainting your outlook going in!! I think for us we’re trying to just have all the information, we have a urologist who my husband is seeing but they can’t find anything causing the low sperm count and he’s done all of the lifestyle things so we’re just trying to make sure we rule out all bases!!

so happy it worked out for you 🩵