When IVF doctors do not have all the answers

One of the problems with IVF is that we often don't have answers to our patient's questions.

This is particularly true when an IVF cycle fails, even though the embryo was top quality ; the endometrium was perfect ; and the transfer went smoothly. Now patients demand answers , and doctors are under a lot of pressure to provide these !

The commonest question is - Why did it fail ? and What can we do differently the next time?

The knee jerk response is to order lots of additional tests , and use these to start offering additional options, such as using donor embryos or surrogacy or donor eggs, none of which makes any sense to me if the cycle went well. .

If the cycle was medically perfect, then it's just a question of being patient , and repeating the cycle until it works .

What about all the extra expensive tests which doctors doctor after the IVF failure, such as ERA testing ?

If these tests were really helpful, then ideally these should have been done before the cycle was   started ! Why wait for the cycle to fail before running these tests?

Sometimes patients need to understand that IVF has its own limitations , and we don’t have all the answers. Doing more tests will just add to the confusion, and not provide any additional useful actionable information !

You can download the IVF comic book free at https://www.drmalpani.com/pdf/IVF_COMIC_BOOK.pdf

and this will help you make better decisions !

Or you can send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinion so that I can guide you !