3 Failed transfers - what next?

[jenk91]

Hi everyone, we have just had a 3rd transfer and unfortunately it has failed. Our second one was technically successful but we had a scan at 7 weeks and it was just an empty sac, so I am not really counting that as a success!
We are nhs so everything takes time and it’s hard/impossible to speak with the doctors, but we have managed to get an appointment with a consultant in November! We want to speak to them before we move forward with transferring our final embryo so we can see if there are any other tests we could do or anything we can change, we are unexplained infertility and all previous tests came back fine but it feels like there has to be something wrong! Oh also, I am 34 and husband is 42.
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what further tests we might ask about/push for please?
Any advice would be awesome , thank you! 💜

So sorry @jenk91, its really hard having a transfer not working out and 3 is really tough.

As you're NHS I assume they haven't been genetically tested, have you had any uterine environment checks/tests to see if anything going on there - a saline scan or hysteroscopy? That could see or rule out anything like scarring that could cause an issue. You could also do a microbiome test to see if there's any bad bacteria or infection at play - screenme is meant to be very good and thorough, takes about 6 weeks to get results, or there's Daye which is more top line hut cheaper/quicker and will give you an idea if there is anything

Unfortunately it could just be bad luck/a numbers game, but some ideas that might help! I don't know if the Nhs puts any store in microbiome tests, but it seems to be increasingly thought of as something worth looking at

@jenk91 sorry you’re going through this. It’s so difficult and the unknown is hard to deal with.

I’m NHS too at the moment and had 3 unsuccessful transfer with 4 embryos. Due to multiple failures, I was then able to have bloods for recurrent implantation failure. For my clinic, they’re testing for things like anti coagulation, TSH, gene mutations etc. which are being done on the NHS. Things like nk cell testing is not done on the NHS as they do not approve funding for anything that is not clinically proven.

Good luck with everything. I currently have one frozen embryo and I’m awaiting the results of my tests before transferring 🤞🏼

Thank you @Orangewillow @LA99 really appreciate the responses!
I did have a hycosy last year and in the report it says nothing noted in the uterine cavity, not sure if that’s the same thing? But also I guess a year is a long time now! But no, nothing genetically tested. I have been taking some vaginal probiotics for the past couple months after I read stuff about this but perhaps I should do one of the tests and go armed with the results to my consultant appointment!

@LA99 im so sorry about your failed transfers, it’s so tough isn’t it. That’s great you’ve had some further testing, fingers crossed you get some answers!

@jenk91as far as I’m aware, the hycosy is to ensure your tubes are not blocked, as the procedure includes pouring dye through the catheter. So I presume that “nothing noted in uterine cavity” is confirming your tubes are clear, which is obviously a good thing.

I would definitely push for any additional testing you can have under the NHS just for the reassurance you’ve done everything you can and to flag any potential issues.

I really hope you get some answers and wish you all the best.

Hi, I had a private transvaginal scan and it showed a large polyp that was then removed by NHS. I would never have known it was there otherwise but I presume when you get scanned they'd have checked. Have you had your husband's sperm assessed? For DNA fragmentation? We had this done also privately and learned that male factor issues were key to our failures. It could be a factor or not but good to find out if you can. I'm sorry for your losses, I know how hard it is.

Thanks @Sara237 yep I mean, over the past year I’ve hand countless scans during the ivf process so I would assume they would have noticed something like this?
We did discuss the dna fragmentation, so perhaps this is something we will look into. Is there a solution to this if it shows this is a problem? What have you guys done?

@jenk91 We are much older than you so have had to take a completely different donor path as a last attempt. I guess it depends on the embryos you have had transferred. Were they rated as high quality? It's subjective and my son was a low rated embryo but if all 3 had a low statistical chance then it might be worth looking into male factor. Lots can be done to improve sperm from what I've read.

i'd also highly recommend pgt-a testing - it can tell you if an embryo is genetically ok and save you from miscarriages. the rating the embryologists give (the number letter letter one) is basically a beauty contest but doesn't tell you anything about the actual chromosomic set up of the embryo