IVF does not have a 100% success rate !

I just received this email.

I am 30 years old and just failed my first ever transfer, which was a frozen embryo transfer (FET). My lining was 8.4 triple striped, and I was on Endomentrin vaginal suppositories 3x/daily. Also, the implanted embryo was graded a 5AA & was PGD tested as normal by CCS. Side note: I had 10 blastocysts biopsied on day 6 and only 4 came back normal, which I thought was SO bad for my 30 year old age. The only reason I did the testing in the first place was to have a better chance of success on the first try. I am devastated to say the least and am now getting a ton of blood panels (clotting and I think some immunology) and a hysteroscopy, even though a saline ultrasound a few months back was normal. Is this testing too much for one FET failure with a chromosonally "normal" embroyo at 30 yo? I have 3 "normals" left so I do not want to do another transfer until we have as much information as possible as to why it may have failed and things I could do differently next FET. One thing I keep thinking about is how my estrogen never got over 200 the entire time I was on Minivelle patches. I just can't seem to understand this failure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A big problem is that  all the tests in the world cannot override the fact that human reproduction is not efficient , and that it takes time to make a baby - whether you do this in the bedroom ( where it's a lot more fun !) or in the clinic.


IVF, PGD and CCS can improve the chances of success in a given cycle, but they cannot make it 100%. What they do is telescope time, so that instead of it taking 6 months for a couple to make a baby ( as it would in the bedroom), we can reduce the amount of time the couple takes to get
pregnant .

Patients need to be educated and counselled to ensure that they don't have unrealistic expectations rate.  Reproductive technology will always have limitations, and mature patients need to learn to live with this !

The problem is that there is so much hype with all these "modern advances", that patients lose sight of basic biological facts. IVF doctors are also responsible for contributing to this, because they are selling false hope.

For example, a patient told me - My doctor just could not understand why my cycle failed. However, the reality is that many " perfect " IVF cycles do fail, for reasons we don't understand.

Instead of wasting a lot of money running more pointless tests, patients need to recalibrate their expectations. If this patient is willing to be patient, it's pretty much certain she will get pregnant - but no IVF specialist in the world can predict in which cycle this will happen !

Need help in getting pregnant ? Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinion so that I can guide you !