Things that can affect the success rate are also the embryo transfer technique. Of course there are things that we do sometimes to optimize the embryo transfer itself such as a specific protocol e.g. some women will do better with a natural embryo transfer where we don’t use medication, some better with medication. There are so many different protocols on how to prepare for embryo transfer and there are all kinds of tests such as endometriosis receptivity essays. But one of the very important factors is the experience and technique of embryo transfer. I remember when I was undergoing training , I saw embryo transfer for the first time and thought it was not a big deal, you take an embryo and put it back. It looks so simple when you don’t realise it is one of the most delicate and sensitive parts of this treatment. With embryo transfer, as everyone nowadays knows, we do it under ultrasound guidance.
It is important to know how you prepare for this, how gentle you must be, what catheter to use, you need to have very good visualisation, it must be done within a specific time frame as it cannot take too long. There is so much going into those 20 seconds of releasing the embryo that really affects the success rate. This is the reason practices require and practice those skills and need the experience of doing it and giving it the importance necessary. We take embryo transfer very seriously, in our lab we have the preparation. It is very sensitive but also very exciting when you see the embryo being released, we see under ultrasound guidance and even record a small video. I have completed hundreds of those and no matter how many I do there’s always a special moment, a little echogenic area and you have to let nature take its course.
