Thawing of embryos for FET

Hey everyone,

Just to settle a discussion I had with a friend the other day about the thawing of embryos for a frozen transfer.

Do they thaw one at a time? Or do they thaw say, 3 (if you have that many) and pick the best one? My friend seemed to think that they thaw a few at time and pick the best ones but surely this isn't right and is a waste of embryos - and not everyone will have that many to thaw!

I was scratching my head and a bit frustrated after this discussion, but mainly because I have no idea!

Thanks.
Sue x

My clinic always did one at a time until they had one that survived. My embryo quality was pretty bad, so they often had to go through a couple before getting a good one.

BW

My clinic also thawed one at a time.

I had to sign a form asking if I wanted to just thaw one and see what happened or if i wanted to thaw one and if it didn't survive then try another until they got one that thawed correctly. The nurse told me that they had had issues with someone not understanding that they may have to thaw more than one before they got one that survived but they would always only thaw them one at a time. Apparently they can tell pretty quickly if there is nothing going on with one.

HI Sue,
As the other ladies have said, in Australia it is standard to thaw one at a time until they get one which has at least 60% of cells survived the thaw (the % depends on your clinic as some might say if 50% survivied that it is OK). In other parts of the world, it is standard to thaw out a number at a time and only transfer the best one. This is a good way to go through the embryos quickly, however of course this also means you could be throwing away good embryos.
They can tell within 1/2 an hour whether an embryo has survived as the dead cells are a browny colour.
I only know all this info as I was given the option for my 6th transfer to thaw two and only put back one and didn't know what to do so rang the embryologist. Hope this helps! :)

Hi Sue

Yep my clinic only thaw the amount of embryo's being transferred. In my case that has always been 2 at a time. I have only had one instance when an embryo did not survive the thaw so they then thawed another one at that time. I had in total 14 frozen embryo's and so far have had 11 thawed for FET's with only one not being suitable to be transferred.

Thanks guys, that's really helpful :)

My clinic usually thaws one at a time like the others have said, but this time around they gave me the 'option' of thawing them all (5!) and picking the best one. I think it's a really wasteful idea, especially since three of them are high quality, but your friend is right - it does happen!

Ahh, Thanks for all the info. I knew they only thawed one at a time for me, but I was always worried that I'd get there and they'd not have a thawed one ready. I didn't realise it only took about half and hour to work out if it was a keeper or not.
Embarrassed to say that i never even asked. Now I know, thanks everyone!

Yeah, thanks everyone. I have 7 in the freezer at the moment and was worried they'd thaw them all because this is what my friend was led to believe and we're with the same clinic.

Good to know.
Sue x

My clinic thawed 4. :D
They were day-3s and wanted to get them to blasties. only one made it in the end, but they had planned to refreeze any others that got there.

Hey mumma sue, my clinic only thaws one a day before transfer and then if it didnt make it they would thaw another, i never had this prob all of mine survived but i had a day 6 embie so they saved that 1 till last incase one of the first 2 didn't survive. xx