# Embryos stopped growing on day 5 - why?



## Candy76 (Feb 19, 2011)

Hi, I have just had my first IVF. I tried to see this as an experiment to see how my body reacts to the drugs etc.

I had a day 5 transfer. The embryologists comments on day 3 and 5 was that the embies overall were of a better than average quality. After the transfer there were 3 good looking contenders left. They said they couldn't guarantee if those would be freezable, but I think there was realistic hope. The next day I got 'the call' to say none of the embies had continued growing, therefore no frosties.

Has this happended to anyone and what is the answer?
Is there something fundamentally wrong with those embies? - I don't think so. 
Do they not like to be disturbed?
Do they not like being in a dish for that long?
Would it be best to next time freeze them on day 3 rather than waiting until they are blasts? - Embryologist thought this might be worth a try.

Thanks for your help!


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## Emma02 (May 25, 2010)

Hi there

I have just had something similar which is very confusing. I had 14 eggs collected and 5 made it to embryos.  We had 2 x embryos transferred on day 3 and the Embryologist said to leave the 3 remaining embies to blast stage, didn't really give us an option. By day 5 all 3 embies had started to compact so they said to leave it another day to see if they progress to blast. We were lucky in that all 3 did, but only 2 were at a stage to freeze!! Don't understand why the other couldn't if it had reached blastocyst!!

Good luck with this cycle xxx


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## MJ1 (Aug 8, 2011)

Hi,
I had the same thing happen to me in December. I had 11 collected, 8 fertilised, 6 were still good on day 5 so we had a day 5 transfer of 3 embies on the Saturday (one early blast and 2 morulas), which left us 3. I had a call on Monday to say that they had stopped growing so we had nothing to freeze. The cycle failed so it was a double blow.
Good luck to you
MJ1 xx


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

i'm not sure but if i have understood correctly there are various parts to embryo health
number of cells
rate of multiplication of cells
amount of fragmentation (cells that have collapsed/died off)
presumeably, rate of fragmentation (how fast they're breaking up)

ideally you'd start with one cell and it would double every day, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16... and so on. 
But you could have am embryo that goes 1,2,4,7 (ie one of the 8 cells died/fragmented),14... or 1,2,4,6 (ie one of the four cells fragmented so only 3 multiplied),12..... 

the later they leave it ie the more cells there are the stronger and more likely to survive ought to be the embryo. But the risk of fragmentation is there. Ideally they need to be transferred or frozen with lots of cells and little fragmentation. but it seems to be a guessing game as to when that is. I think it is a bit like trying to blow bubbles with bubblemix and trying to stick loads together. The more you try and stick together there is a risk you will burst some, and sometimes the whole thing bursts. Getting one bubble is fairly easy but it gets harder to hold it together the more you get.

i am just trying to understand this myself so someone else might be able to paint a better picture.


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## Candy76 (Feb 19, 2011)

Thanks for your replies! I suppose if this happens frequently I might eventually find someone who has a theory of explaining this.

Emma, my clinic would have frozen blasts if the child-to-be bit of the blast had been an A or B grade. Your clinic will also have criteria according to which they will freeze embryos and it seems like two of yours made it, but the other one wasn't deemed to be of good enough quality.


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