Why would you freeze an embryo? In a typical cycle, we might get five to 10 eggs and from that, we might get two to three blastocysts, that would be a good outcome.
The strong recommendation is to only transfer one embryo. Under very rare circumstances, we may discuss the role for transferring two. But with any embryos that are left over, that are of good quality and have the potential to result in a pregnancy, we would freeze those and we can use those in later cycles.
Other reasons for freezing the embryos might include logistics, if a woman just can’t be available to have the embryo transfer, if she has developed hyperstimulation during the IVF cycle, we would let the hormones settle down and come back in a natural cycle. And thirdly, if we are doing genetic screening on the embryos we would wait the 12 days for those results to come back.
Dr. Jenny Cook is a Fertility Specialist who works at the Monash IVF clinic. She has published widely in the area of Gynaecological Laparoscopy and has presented at many national and international meetings.She is recognised for her experience in laparoscopic gynaecological procedures. https://www.drjennycook.com/