• CEO Meet The Surrogate Mothers
IVF must have made many hopeful mothers fulfil their dreams of becoming a mother, but one thing that many expectant mothers couldn’t help, but ask, is why IVF still fails? Why do you have to do 2 or more IVF before realising the dream of motherhood?
Well, some celebrities have openly said that they had tried more than 2 or 3 IVF before they eventually became mothers. Some even revealed that they did more than 3 to achieve their goal of becoming a mother.
In all, there is, no doubt, that when an IVF cycle fails, many people are angered, in grief and frustration. It’s normal to feel these emotions, but whom do we blame for an IVF’s failure? Some blame themselves or their partners, while some blame the hospital where the IVF took place.
Some believe that the quality of embryo may determine the success of IVF and Dr Olaronke Thaddens, the brain behind a popular Lekki Hospital and a popular Instagram page called, “#meetthesurrogatesmothers”, revealed on her post on the practical reasons many IVF’s failed. She said that IVF could fail for many reasons.
Olaronke of “Meet The Surrogates Mothers”, also revealed that any woman who had had a failed IVF should ask any of the hospitals to which they are having a new journey question. In her words, if you have a failed IVF, ask your doctor these questions before.embarking on a new journey. Ask your doctor, how many eggs were retrieved? How many eggs were fertilised? How many eggs made it to day 5? How many were transferred? What is the grade of Embryo Transfer? She asked.
In another post where Dr Olaronke analyses why IVF failed she said: “Over time, we have had to see clients with failed IVF treatments; 90% of clients have had, at least, 2 failed cycles (a particular client with a history of 20 failed IVF treatment cycles…and don’t think it is a Nigerian issue because we also have come across a particular client from the UK with history of 10 previous failed IVF cycles, 5 from the USA and other 5 from the UK).
To have a failed IVF treatment is demoralising, but more devastating is the fact that mostly explanation and reason(s) for failure were never given. At best, the clients are made to understand that the best of IVF treatments offer a 4-in-13 successes outcome! Clients are also made to accept that they need more than one IVF cycle to achieve pregnancy.
“The obvious issues in most cases have been no or inadequate evaluation and poor interpretation of their test results/evaluation. Also, most clients are victims of their own requests”.
Factors important in achieving conception (in no particular order) include a healthy individual
devoid of chronic illness, good quality sperm, adequate ovarian reserve, normal size uterus with good endometrium devoid of fibroid, polyps and uterine adhesion, fallopian tube devoid of hydrosalpinx, a good and well-experienced embryologist, a functional IVF laboratory and skilled IVF personnel.
OVARIAN RESERVE: “Of great concern are cases of clients with negligible ovarian reserve (from antimullerian hormone assay) who either insists to be stimulated and those whose physicians still embark on stimulating them despite a negligible ovarian report. In simple, non-scientific terms, ‘you don’t give what you do not have.’ When a client is being stimulated, what you are doing in simple term, is retrieving available eggs. You do not retrieve what the person does not have! Clients fail to understand that their egg reserve depletes as they age (no wonder females are said to have a biological clock). As females get older, their egg reserve depletes in quantity and quality and their risk of having babies with chromosomal abnormality increases.
“Some clinics will carry out a hormone profile (FSH/LH) to determine whether a client is fit for stimulation or not. The drawback is that it does not correlate significantly with the ovarian reserve. Clients have been stimulated based on good FSH/LH result (and good antral follicular count) but yielded poor or no response necessitating the cancellation of cycle. A look into their ovarian reserve showed that they had significantly reduced ovarian reserve.
“In utilizing AMH (of course, with antral follicular count) it is important that the client’s past IVF treatment history is reviewed. It is important to say that AMH is not absolute. Clients can have a poor response and unfavourable outcome following stimulation (even with Gonal F) in the presence of significantly reduced ovarian reserve. Such a client should be adequately counselled.
“Correct interpretation of AMH result is important. First, it tells you if the client could be stimulated or not. In other words, whether or not you will achieve your desired objective for stimulation. Second, it gives a guide as to the right dose of FSH required for stimulation and invariably, help to prevent drug-induced complication such as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Thirdly, it helps determine the best protocol for stimulation.
It is important to understand that the quality of eggs plays a big role in determining the quality of the embryo. A good quality embryo transferred into a good endometrium is a recipe for a successful IVF, she explained.
– Abiola Orisile
