Welcome Paula

Peta - They say that a change is as good as a holiday! It's so important to be happy with your specialist.

Saph/*las* - IVM is In Vitro Maturation. Instead of having synarel/gonal-f to grow your follicles to full size, they do EPU when the follicles are small (Lead follicle around 8mm instead of fully grown at 20mm). They can then mature the eggs which takes an extra day, and then they fertilise and harvest them as per IVF.

It is mainly used in PCOS cases who have a high antral follicle count, and who would be at a high risk of OHSS. It is classified as an innovative program and so far I think our clinic is the only one in Australia doing it.

The benefits are that there are less drugs, shorter treatment time (My EPU is only a week or two away), cheaper to do, and no risk of OHSS or cancelled cycle.
The down side is that the success rate is less (50% IVF - 25% IVM) and egg collection is really difficult and PAINFUL!