Discussion about the latest developments and advances in IVF (in-vitro fertilization), PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) and infertility diagnosis and treatment. Includes polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, blocked fallopian tubes, lifestyle issues, fibroids, infertility surgery and more.
First time IVF success - More tips from Dr Randy Morris MD-The BOARD CERTIFIED #fertility expert with weekly TTC tips on InfertilityTV
#IVFSuccess Tip #1 - Frozen Embryo Transfer #FET
In the last several years, the technology for freezing #embryos has improved dramatically. Survival rates upon thawing have never been higher and pregnancy rates with frozen embryos have skyrocketed. We now have proof that the chance for first time #IVF success with a frozen embryo is higher than with a fresh embryo.
Why is this true?
With these new freezing methods, the embryos are essentially the same whether fresh or frozen. The difference is in the uterus. When you stimulate the ovaries in a fresh cycle, changes in the uterus may interfere with implantation. These changes are more easily controlled on a frozen embryo transfer cycle.
IVF Success Tip #2 Diet
It is really difficult to do studies on the impact of diet on IVF success. The proof that diet or dietary changes has an impact is not strong but these are easy, common sense things to do.
A 2018 study found that patients who adhered most closely to a Mediterranean Diet had higher #pregnancy and delivery rates compared to patients who did not follow that diet.
What is a Mediterranean Diet?
Concentrate on these items:
-- Fruits and vegetables - for every meal
-- Whole grains- daily for example wheat, corn,oats, barley and quinoa.
-- Eggs, cheese and yogurt - daily
-- Change your oil to Extra Virgin Olive Oil for cooking and instead of salad dressing
-- Fish and seafood - at least two times per week
-- Avoid red meat and sweets
IVF success Tip #3 Evaluate for Chronic #Endometritis
There are three ways to evaluate the uterine cavity.
-- #HSG
--Saline ultrasound and
-- #Hysteroscopy.
Only hysteroscopy allows you to look for inflammation of the uterine lining. This is known as chronic endometritis.
Chronic endometritis has been associated with IVF implantation failure. Diagnosing and treating it before embryo transfer can increase your chances for a successful first IVF attempt.
This is not just shameless promotion for InfertilityTV. All of our recommendations in the 100 or so episodes of InfertilityTV are based on actual scientific evidence. Patients who follow our advice are going to be more successful so Subscribe right now!
#RandyMorris#DrRandyMorris#RandyMorrisMD
Increase your "Infertelligence" TM
Subscribe to Infertility TV now!!!
A new episode of #InfertilityTV is broadcast weekly every Thursday afternoon
or visit our website at IVF1.com
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Miscarriage and natural killer cells - Dr Randy Morris MD-The BOARD CERTIFIED fertility expert with weekly TTC tips on InfertilityTV
If you have suffered a #miscarriage or multiple miscarriages chances are you've gone online and done a Google search to try to figure out what the cause for the losses. And if you did that, you probably came across some web pages that talked about natural killer cells. This probably terrified you because what sounds scarier than “killer” cells attacking your pregnancy.
Here is the basic idea. You have a blood test to look at how many natural killer cells there are. If your levels are high that means you're at greater risk for having a miscarriage. In order to prevent miscarriage you do a really expensive therapy called intravenous immunoglobulin or IVIG. Unless you do this you are doomed to have miscarriages over and over. Sounds reasonable right? Unfortunately it is completely wrong.
Natural killer cells are one type of white blood cell and are therefore part of the immune system. They circulate in the blood and they can also be found in the uterine lining. In the blood, natural killer cells work as an early defense to destroy cells infected with viruses and cancer cells.
However in the uterus, these cells are not cell killers...in fact, they are distinctly different than the natural killer cells in the blood and have a completely different function. So let's not call them natural killer cells any more... let's refer to them as scientists do which are NK cells.
The most recent research suggests that NK cells in the uterus are essential to allow the embryo to implant and allow the placenta to grow in the uterus. In fact, uterine NK cells increase in number after ovulation around the time that an embryo is expected to implant. These levels stay high during early pregnancy. So measuring the number of NK cells in the blood or in the uterus is a useless test.
So what are all these NK cells doing in the uterus? In order to answer that question we need to ask another question first and that is how is it that an embryo which is foreign to the mother is not rejected by her immune system like a liver or a kidney transplant? The answer is that the mother’s immune system somehow learns not to reject an embryo. This is called immune tolerance. Recent evidence suggests that uterine NK cells are involved in the process of allowing immune tolerance to embryos.
In certain cases, based on the mother's genetic makeup and the father's genetic makeup, the mother may fail to develop tolerance to an embryo. There may be some embryos which therefore get rejected by the mother's immune system. this may be more likely to occur in situations like egg donation where there is twice as much tissue which is foreign to the mother. This is an area of active research.
In the meantime don't waste time and money doing blood tests for NK cells or biopsies of the uterus for NK cells. And certainly don't have treatments like IVIG which are risky and unproven.
Increase your "Infertelligence" TM
Subscribe to Infertility TV now!!!
A new episode of Infertility TV is broadcast weekly every Thursday afternoon
or visit our website at IVF1.com
*******************************************
Do you want to become a patient at IVF1?
*******************************************
Recurrent miscarriage - Dr Randy Morris MD discusses old and NEW recurrent miscarriage testing. -The BOARD CERTIFIED fertility expert with weekly TTC tips on InfertilityTV
Approximately 1% of couples attempting pregnancy will suffer from #recurrentmiscarriage.. Evaluation of the causes of recurrent #miscarriage is extensive and includes evaluating a woman for problems with her uterus, immune system, hormones, blood clotting system, and testing for possible systemic diseases such as infections, diabetes and Celiac disease. Both the woman and her partner also have a chromosome analysis.
However, roughly 50% of the time, the causes of recurrent #miscarriage are not found. Numerous attempts have been made to look for specific gene mutations that may cause recurrent miscarriage. Several candidate genes have been studied but definitive evidence that they cause recurrent miscarriage was lacking.
Recently, researchers found that women with variations in their #FOXD1 gene are TEN times more likely to have recurrent miscarriage compared to women without these variants. This is a more potent cause for #miscarriage than any previously studied factor. In fact, FOXD1 variants were found ONLY in women with recurrent miscarriage. They were never found in women without recurrent miscarriage.
Depending on the specific variant found, there are different possible treatments that can be employed to help reduce the risk for future miscarriages. Currently, this testing is only available at #IVF1.
