What should we evaluate after failed IVF cycles? How to proceed further?

At the moment, I would not say that for sure you need to use the blastocyst. Usually, it is evaluated, and researchers say that in most of the cases when blastocysts do not develop, it is not connected with the women factor if the problem was visible already at 2-day and 3-day of the embryo’s development. If the problem appears at a 4-day embryo, then you need actually to evaluate the partner’s sperm DNA fragmentation. If you were 40-42, then for sure, you need the donor eggs.

Poor embryos at day-1 usually mean that the problem is with the eggs, but you could change the type of stimulation or medication, which you use during stimulation. For example, in the previous cycle, you had a long cycle GnRH agonist cycle, next time maybe, you can try the antagonist cycle. There are a few options, in most cases, we use Gonal F or Bemfola, which is a folitropin alfa, but you can also try to use follitropin delta like Rekovelle. Maybe this can help, sometimes we see such situations, and changing something in the stimulation can also help to get better eggs.

You need to detect anti-chlamydia IgA, IgGand if it is elevated, then you had it. If it is not heavily elevated, then you never had Chlamydia. From time to time, this infection occurs without any symptoms, maybe some urinary problems, and that is all.

I suppose you need to try either with donor sperm or donor egg or try one more cycle. You could try as you are quite young, but you could try to use just to fertilize some eggs with the donor’s sperm with the next try, and some sperm from your partners could be fertilized with the donor eggs, at least to understand if it happens with other genetic material.

You should evaluate all the possibilities, which I’ve explained before, karyotyping, thrombophilia, DNA fragmentation. You don’t need an ERA test because you had implantation. If you would have 2 miscarriages, then it would be recommended to evaluate also the genetics of embryos.

The possibility of natural conceiving is only 8%, but with IVF and ICSI, the percentage increases to 33-40%. At our clinic (EGV), the percentage is from 59-70% success rate of implantation, but nobody can promise you to be pregnant after the first try. You need to understand that in those 8, 10, 14 days that you already were pregnant, and this is like losing the pregnancy, but yes, it can happen, and it doesn’t mean that next time it will not implant.

I am not sure about your AMH exactly, but if it is low and you’ve been trying for 4 years now, you are 40, therefore I would recommend trying donor eggs.

The researchers say that there is a little bit higher monozygotic twin possibility, but actually, this is the only thing that can happen. We never had anything like this after assisted hatching, but the researchers said that there could be a little bit elevated risk. This is the only risk, which has been found with this procedure.

You can try with the next cycle, you don’t need to wait for any cycle. In most cases, if the IVF cycle does not end with the implantation with a fresh cycle and if there are no embryos left, then you need to wait for two cycles. If this is a frozen embryo transfer cycle, then you don’t need to wait.

At the beginning of each menstrual cycle, some antral follicles appear, and it is connected with a lot of things like your age, time, stress, etc. Age is the most important but also the way of the stimulation, for example, if you use a short protocol, agonist protocol, you always will have a smaller amount of eggs compared to the long cycle.

I would give you a smaller dosage and for a longer time. If you have multi follicular ovaries, you don’t need that, but if you do, then the short protocol is recommended. Looking at your story, perhaps it’s time to try another way of a protocol with GnRH and agonist protocol with a lower dosage.

BMI 29 is a little bit over 28, which is recommended. We choose the dosage of the stimulation based on the age, body mass index, antral follicle count at the particular cycle, as well as AMH and FSH. With your AMH level, 13, taking Gonal f 300iu would be too much, I would recommend taking 200-225 units per day.

TSH level should be lower than 2.1 to get good quality embryos. I would recommend evaluating karyotype, thrombophilia for sure, also DNA fragmentation of male sperm. Perhaps, you could do hysteroscopy with diagnosis, or do a 3D ultrasound, maybe you have septa. This is what I would do in your case. As you’ve had pregnancies, for sure you have implantation at the right time, so you don’t need to check any other things like the ERA test.

If the endometrium is at least 6.5, then the implantation with the assisted reproduction technique can happen. If you would like to have a pregnancy naturally conceived, then six millimeters is enough. I would recommend having a stimulated cycle with estrogen starting from the second day of the menstrual cycle, 2 milligrams 3 times per day, and the ultrasound monitoring at approximately 10, until the 12th day of the menstrual cycle. Then, evaluate whether to reduce this dosage or increase and afterward add the progesterone as you had a little bit thinner endometrium than usually in a natural cycle. The researcher says that the best possibility of conceiving is if the endometrium is between 8 to 12.5 millimeters.

I don’t think that you need hysteroscopy. With your adenomyosis and a thin endometrium, it would be better to wait for one cycle. Then, try again with frozen embryo transfer. Mild adenomyosis is not a big problem of infertility. Doctors certainly know what to do. A heart-shaped uterus is just a shape, not a problem.

Hydrosalpinx is a very severe problem with pregnancies. If you had it two years ago, then for sure you need to remove those. The best diagnosis of the tubes is laparoscopy. The oldest woman I ever had who got pregnant with her own eggs was 44 years old. Even if the AMH level is good when you turn 44, even if the pregnancy appears, they always have miscarriages. The first thing, which I would recommend is removing the tubes. The second thing, as you already did the donor eggs transfer before, you should try again. Even with the donor eggs, there is no 100% guarantee that you’ll get pregnant.

Usually, we use such a big dosage only in the situation when AMH is very low and when you are very thin, and when you have a bad prognosis of having eggs at all.

BMI 27 is okay, but maybe you have a few problems with hormone index with insulin resistance. BMI 25 is perfect over 28 is too high. According to your AFC for a particular cycle, I would say 8 eggs are expected. Follicles don’t guarantee that there is an egg inside. AMH is good, so we wait, we would be happy with 8 eggs in this particular case.