3 day vs 5 day transfer? Ghost?

[tortillachip]

My first successsful pregnancy I did a 3 day transfer but now my doc is exploring the option of doing a 5 day transfer. What are the positives and negatives of these and what factors go into the decision of 3 vs 5?

[to_have_fun08]

I know with my clinic, all patients get 5 day transfers unless the patient specifically asks for a 3 day transfer. It is know the belief that if the embryo doesn't make it to 5 days then it is not chromosomal normal. Do i believe this?. heck who knows. some say its better for the embryo to be in the uterus then in the lab. some clinics better stats with 3 day transfers so that is what they do. Ask your Re why they want to do a day 5. If you want to make sure that you have something to transfer then ask for a day 3 transfer. If you want to have more knowledge on how your embryo's grow then wait it out till day 5. For my DE cycle we had 13 eggs, 11 looked awesome on day 3 all grade 1 or 2 and 8+ cells. We let them grow till day 5.. i think 5 stopped growing by day 5. We did CGH testing on the eggs and 7 of the 13 were chromosonally abnormal. So only 2 of the abnormal ones made it to the blast stage. So in my case, i think it does show that it is better to let them grow out till day 5. but it is hard as heck to wait and then find out maybe you won't have anything to transfer on day 5. for my 3rd ivf cycle with my eggs, i tried to let my eggs go till day 5 and ended up with nothing to transfer.

[Ghost]

My first successsful pregnancy I did a 3 day transfer but now my doc is exploring the option of doing a 5 day transfer. What are the positives and negatives of these and what factors go into the decision of 3 vs 5?

Pros for day 5 transfer:

1. Embryos that make it to day 5 obviously did not arrest on day 3 or day 4, so some wasted transfers are avoided.
2. Day 5 embryos have more features for grading (more complex than day 3 embryos) so it may be easier to select the best among them.
3. The implantation rates tend to be a little higher with day 5 blastocyst transfers than with day 3 transfers, giving the clinic and patient the option of reducing the number to transfer, and reducing the risk of multiple pregnancy or high order multiple pregnancy.

Pros for day 3 transfer:

1. Some clinics charge more for day 5 transfer, so day 3 transfer saves money.

Some might claim that it gets the embryos into a natural environment sooner. The uterus is the natural environment for an embryo on day 5 and afterward, but not before. Prior to day 5, they are normally in the tubes in natural (non-IVF) cycles. So placing embryos into the uterus on day 3 is not really placing them into their natural environment.

[Happy Bunny]

Due to the lower success of Day 3 embryos, my clinic is more likely to put in more embryos on Day 3 than they will on Day 5.

My first pregnancy was a Day 5, 2 embryos transfer. My second pregnancy was a Day 3, 3 embryo transfer. Each transfer produced one baby.

[tortillachip]

Ok thanks so much! They're doing a 3 day transfer tomorrow.

[lou71]

I had 6 transfers.
3 day transfers I got pregnant 2/3 times or 67%.
5 day transfers I got pregnant 0/3 times or 0%.
All embryos were high quality and 2 of the 5dt were FET's.
I had one m/c and 1 baby.