QuestionHi - I just completed an egg vitrification cycle in Chicago, IL. Everything went smoothly, except on the day of the egg retrieval the doctor was stuck in traffic and was an hour late (so instead of performing the retrieval at 36 hours after ovidrel, it was performed at 37 hours). Should I be concerned about this? I know I had approximately 23 sizable follicles and was told that they retrieved 14 eggs. Is it possible that the others were missing or had ovulated b/c of the timing? Is it common to retrieve only 14 eggs out of 23 follicles? Would the quality of the eggs be compromised b/c of the timing? FYI, I just turned 36 and had no complications during the process. I don't yet know how many were mature/frozen - they are supposed to call me tomorrow with that information. Thank you!!!
AnswerHello Lyn from the U.S.,
Because of the 1 hr delay, there is certainly the possibility that some follicles may have ovulated, but I think it would be unlikely. It is fairly common to not get 100% in egg retrieval. In fact, my threshold is 60%. In your case it was 61% so that would meet my threshold. That is because we count all the follicles but many of them are smaller and may not have mature eggs within that do not detach from the follicle wall. The maturity or quality of the eggs should not be compromised based on the timing of the retrieval. Since this is a freezing for egg banking, they would probably freeze all the eggs.
Good Luck,
Edward J. Ramirez, M.D., FACOG
Executive Medical Director
The Fertility and Gynecology Center
Monterey Bay IVF Program
www.montereybayivf.com
Monterey, California, U.S.A.
for additional information check out my blog at http://womenshealthandfertility.blogspot.com check me out on twitter with me at @montereybayivf
