How many of your frozen embryos survived the thaw?

[Tinks85]

We are about to start a medicated FET next cycle. We have 2 embryos in the freezer. They were frozen on day3 and were graded as top quality.

We will be thawing both and really want the chance to replace them both but was shocked when our consultant said the chance of the embryos survivng the thaw is only 50%. Obviously we will just be glad to be able to transfer 1 after hearing the %.

I was wondering if the ladies that have had to thaw embryos for FET would share how many embryos you had thawed out and how many survived the thaw. Please can you also say how old the embryos were when frozen.

I would love to hear about other peoples experience and success rates.

Is it really unlikely that both will survive??

Thanks for you help.

 

[RGN]

Do you know what process they use for freezing/thawing? With vitrification, the newer method that flash freezes the embryos they have thaw survival rates of 95%. I've read the older method has around 70%. I'm sure if varies by clinic based on the techniques/technologies they use but 50% survival rate seems really low. Maybe they are just trying to set expectations that it's a possibility?

I had two 5 day blasts thawed and both survived (using vitrification).

Good luck!

 

[Tinks85]

Thank you for your reply RGN.

No sorry I dont know how they were frozen, just that it was done on day 3.

I am really hoping that they are just trying to prepare us for the worse with the 50%

 

[Gracy 004]

Hi Tinks I can give you a bit of my own experience with FET's as i have had both incredibly fantastic success and also dismal failure .
We did our first ICSI back in june 2010 which resulted in a BFP that ended in a mc at 7 weeks and left us completely devastated, but we had 4 frosties in the freezer which were day 5 and day 6 blasties which we were told were all very good quality,however we were also given the odds that only 50% survive the thaw so i really didnt have any faith in the FET and actually went into it just wanting to get them out of the way as our clinics policy is to use all frosties before starting a new fresh cycle.
I had a natural non medicated FET of a five day embie which survived the thaw with 90% cells remaining. It was a real winner, embie put in on a friday and i was sick as a dog with morning sickness by Monday! DD born in april 2011

So because the FET was so easy and successful we didnt hesitate to start the process again now she is 9 months old with one of our remaining three embies. I arrived for my FET last week excited as anything only to be told that all three of our embies had arrested on thawing They took them out one at a time and each one had died within 1/2 an hour so we had nothing to tx.

I know we knew the chances failing to thaw were there but because it was so easy the first time we didnt really even consider it happening. But as the last poster said it really does also depend on the method used to freeze, if it is the new method , i think is called vitrification then 90% are likely to survive, but ours unfortunately were frozen back in 2010 when it was still the old way. They told me that if the embie survives the thaw it has as good a chance as a fresh one to implant, sometimes even better because the embie if it can survive the thawing process is a really strong one. I also heard that the older blastocyst embies are more difficult to thaw than the earlier day 3 embies as well. I am about to start stimming in the next few days to get the process going again, arrgghhhh!

Good luck! I have a beautiful baby girl who is evidence that FET's do work!

 

[Sammy2009]

Sadly its really hit and miss with FET's.... A fresh IVF cycle obviously has a higher success rate due to the fact that the embie hasn't lost any cells or been damaged during the freezing process. The problems that often occur are when they are actually being frozen, if crystalization takes place then this can affect the embryo when thawing causing the embie to arrest. I have had 3 IVF's (one BFP but lost baby at 24 weeks gestation) and 3 FET's all frozen embies were on Day 3/4 and results are as follows:

FET #1

Two excellent 3 day embies thawed, one arrested, one transfered. BFN

FET #2

One Grade A 3 day embie thawed, embie arrested, no transfer

FET #3

One excellent 4 day compacting morula (almost blast) thawed perfectly. BFN

As you can see i have not had much luck myself with frozen embies, my fs said that there is only 10-15% success rate as opposed to a 25% success rate with a fresh transfer (these figures are not carved in stone though, it depends on your age, egg quality, hospital, freezing and thawing methods etc)

Still, if our next IVF doesnt work i would certainly try it again, people do get pregnant with frozen embies!!!

Good luck

 

[Tinks85]

Thank you both for your replies.

I am so sorry to hear you have both had loses

It does seem to depend on so many things and then just luck.

I wish I knew what method was used to freeze them. I am at St Mary's in Manchester and it is a small NHS hopsital and is quite old and run down looking so I am thinking they may not have he newest equipment, I could be wrong though.

All I can do is hope for the best. Thanks again girls and GL for your upcoming treatment

 

[Inky2006]

Hi Tink, just want to give you a success story. My first round failed. You can see from my signature. I had 5 frosties. All day 3's. Grade 1's. They defrosted 2 and they survived the thaw very well. Whether the frosties survive does depend alot on the quality of the embies. Anyway, survive to say 1 implanted and I now have a 4 month year old. So it can happen. Just keep the faith. Don't worry about success rates or stats. There are so many variables. Stats can be skewed. Just think you might be successful. I must admit I went in thinking it wouldn't work but it did, and no one was more surprised than me. Good luckxx

 

[Tinks85]

Inky, first of all congrats on your baby girl

Thank you for sharing your storry, you have given me more hope. I am currenty DR so transfer should be in about 3 weeks.

Fx we are as luck as you

 

[boubz]

Hi Tinkz85

I also had 2 embies frozen on day3 and were graded 8 which is ok. My embies both thawed well and ,one was a grade 10 and one was above which means they are very strong. This is my second attempt with ICSI so very nervous. Now the 2 wks wait to find out if my embies have survived

Good luck!

 

[Chloe1]

Hi both my Frozen embies survived, you can see from my sig below.

Good luck!! xx