This was the least possible amount of medication we have ever used for IVF with Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) and a Frozen Embryo Transfer.
When our patient met the man of her dreams, they were ready to build their family. Unfortunately, our patient suffered from multiple autoimmune issues and medication sensitivities/allergies, which often caused severe debilitating migraines. At one point, her condition was so painful that she was afraid pregnancy would worsen her symptoms, so before she was married, she had her tubes tied.
Once they decided to have a baby, her previous physicians realized that her tubes were too damaged from surgery to allow for reversal, so her only option was IVF. However, she didn’t want to risk her health by undergoing traditional IVF, which is why she came to our clinic.
Due to her medication sensitives, she declined all medication except for HCG since it is bioidentical to pregnancy hormones. HCG starts the egg retrieval process and is usually given 34-38 hours before the retrieval. Although IVF can be performed with a trigger, timing will be tricky. Often, retrievals are too early, resulting in no or immature egg retrieved, making fertilization timing difficult or too late, resulting in the egg being lost before the retrieval. Because of this, we opted for a Natural IVF cycle versus a traditional or Mini IVF cycle. Although very few centers perform Natural IVF, most will perform this with a fresh embryo transfer. However, since she had frozen embryos and wanted to minimize the risk of future miscarriage, PGT was performed, likely one of the few cases where PGT was performed in a Natural IVF Cycle.
HCG could have side effects for some women; fortunately, our patient tolerated it, encouraging her to transfer and carry the baby herself.
The only medications used for this successful Natural IVF cycle were one HCG injection for the egg retrieval under local anesthesia and one HCG injection for the frozen embryo transfer to optimize timing.
Our patient gave birth to a beautiful baby boy in January 2021. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to fertility treatments.