Blastocyst Transfers

More evidence is suggesting that patients who have undergone multiple treatment cycles without a successful outcome, having had good quality embryos may benefit from a blastocyst transfer. Women who are at risk of multiple pregnancies may also benefit as one blastocyst is normally transferred.

Blastocyst transfers are normally performed on day 5, rather then day 2 or day 3, following egg collection. The criteria do vary from clinic to clinic but normally four good quality embryos of 8 cells on day 3 following egg collection are required.

Hatching Blastocyst

There are some risks involved by delaying transfer. One of those is that the embryos may not develop to the blastocyst stage. Therefore there may not be an embryo transfer. Blastocyst transfer is allowing the embryos to reach a more mature stage of development and some may not have the potential to do so. They will therefore cease to develop further.

Risks to the children born from blastocyst transfer are still being studied, as it is still a relatively new procedure. However there is evidence to suggest that the chances of identical twins are higher as well as the chances of conceiving a boy.

Freezing of Blastocysts

The freezing of embryos depends on the quality of the embryos. The embryo quality has to be high for them to survive both the freezing and thawing process. Blastocysts have reached a stage of maturity where they are ready to implant therefore clinics offer the freezing of all blastocysts.