It is one of the commonly asked questions in the ART field and at this juncture, we are certainly going to evaluate every concern about the number of eggs collected and a woman’s IVF success chance.
An Overview
The number of eggs retrieved after ovarian stimulation can result in more chromosomally normal embryos irrespective of the ovarian stimulation intensity and a woman’s age- according to fertility doctors.
As per a study conducted by the University of NSW and the IVF Australia fertility specialists, it was found that the number of eggs collected during an IVF treatment cycle independently has a significant impact on the chromosomally normal embryos available for transfer. Basically, the presence of more chromosomally normal (euploid) embryos can indicate an increased chance of IVF success.
This is generally because chromosomally normal embryos can easily get implanted in the uterus to result in a pregnancy that will eventually lead to a live birth. In conclusion, this means that a woman’s IVF success chances are boosted as per the number of eggs harvested.
Egg Concerns
Although retrieving more eggs increase a couple’s IVF success rate, IVF studies also evaluated the following;
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A Woman’s Age
A woman’s age also has a positive or negative impact on the number of eggs attained. The same study indicated that to produce one and two euploid embryos, five and fourteen oocytes would be required for women aged 34, whereas ten and fourteen oocytes would be required for those aged 38.
Therefore, this means that the older a woman is, the higher the number of eggs to be harvested in order to result in chromosomally normal embryos.
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Egg Quality VS. Egg Quantity
The study also indicated that aiming at collecting more eggs through any means of ovarian stimulation hardly has any effect on the quality of eggs. It was also suggested that intense ovarian stimulation has no dangerous effect on the egg quality. However, retrieving numerous eggs can result in more competent eggs.
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Hatching
Collecting multiple eggs during the cycle significantly widens the success bracket, but there are cases where an embryo may fail to hatch from its protective outer shell, known as the zona pellucida. Well, unless the embryos are carefully evaluated before transfer, this may hinder implantation.
In this case, assisted hatching is required via laser hatching, chemical-assisted hatching or mechanical-assisted hatching.
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IVF Success Rate
Studies indicate that IVF basically results in more live birth simply because many eggs are harvested during the IVF treatment cycle. In addition, chromosomally normal embryos result in a higher cumulative pregnancy rate hence live birth. However, chromosomally abnormal embryos will fail to implant and in case they do, it may cause a miscarriage.