The diagnosis of an IVF pregnancy is made by testing for the presence of the pregnancy-specific hormone, HCG ( human chorionic gonadotropin) which is produced only by the placental cells ( trophoblasts) . This is done either by testing the urine at home by doing a home pregnancy test ( HPT) , or by measuring the level of the HCG hormone in the blood . This is how IVF patients find out after an embryo transfer whether they are pregnant or not.
In order to increase their pregnancy rates, the sad truth is that many IVF specialists give their IVF patients HCG injections after embryo transfer , in order to fool them. This is the same injection which is used for triggering ovulation, and brand names include Ovitrelle When their urine pregnancy test is positive, they are on top of the world, and very grateful to their doctor, because they believe the IVF cycle was successful. However, they are being cheated, but they don’t know this. The doctor continues giving them more HCG injections, to “support” the pregnancy, so their pregnancy test remains positive. However, when they do an ultrasound scan, they don’t find a pregnant, because they were never pregnant in the first place ! The doctor tells them sorrowfully that even though the IVF cycle was “ successful” ( as proven by the positive pregnancy test), they have unfortunately, miscarried and need to try again ! Patients fall into this trap and keep on getting cheated, cycle after cycle. The doctor then starts advising more expensive options, such as surrogacy or donor egg, so that the pregnancy will continue to grow, and keep on enriching himself at the expense of the patient.
In other clinics, the doctor tells them they had a “chemical pregnancy”, and lures them into doing cycle after cycle in his clinic.
How can you protect yourself from this scam ? Always repeat the HCG blood test after 3 days. If it’s a viable pregnancy ( and not an factitious pregnancy created by the HCG injection), this level will double, and this is reassuring.
This technique is how unscrupulous and unethical IVF doctors get all their patients pregnant, and have a 100% IVF success rate ! The truth is that HCG is used only to trigger ovulation prior to egg collection, and has not role to play after the embryo transfer , and I hope this information helps to protect you from being taken for a ride !
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