Severe fragmented embryos.

Dear dr braverman,

I hope you can help me with my question.

I have cycled twice and twice I had severe fragmented embryos.

My first cycle I didn't got pregnant but with my second cycle I did (due to fragmentation I transfered 2xx and 2xy). It resulted in a healthy 9 month boy now but we preferred a girl.

These were my tests results. I was 33 or 34 at the time.

LH: 4.5 U/l (reference values 2.4-6.6)
FSH: 4.6U/l (" 3.4-21.6)
Prolactin: 461 mU/l (" 25-635)
TSH: 1.4 mU/l (" 0.35- 4.94)
AMH: 1.0 ug/l ("0.9-2.3)

First cycle: single shot downregulation with decapeptyl depot 3.75mg and stimulation with Menopur 300 IU. Supplements: DHEA, pregnacare, fish oil.

Second cycle: a few months on BCP Yasmin. Downregulation daily shots of Decapeptyl 0.1 mg. stimulation with menopur first 5 days 375 IU and last 3 days 300 IU. Supplements: pregnacare and fish oil (NO DHEA anymore).

The second cycle I did get hatching blasts (the first time we didn't) but again severe fragmented (see the picture in my avatar) we put back 4 embryos (2xx and 2xy). And it resulted in a healty 9 month boy. I had no diabetes during pregnancy. So I think I'm not insuline resistance.

We want to try again PGD because we still really want a girl and we want to know how we can increase our chances on good embryos.

What causes severe embryo fragmentation? What can I do to prevent/minimize that?

I have read about embryoplasty on your website. Could this be the solution for us?

I hope to hear your opinion about this!

Thanks in advance!

lis, just letting you know I received an auto-reply from Dr Braverman that he is out of the office until 8/29 with limited access to email so I am not sure if he will see this before he gets back.

Is he still out of office?

Bump!!!

Fragmentation is most likely related to embryo quality , we have found however that by removing the fragments we have improved the quality of the embryo(i.e. there may be other factors other than just the genetics that cause fragmentation , by removing these fragments carefully we have seen significant improvement in cell division and symmetry .)
sometimes the quality of the IVF lab itself will lead to fragmentation.
I would be happy to assist you in your quest for a girl.