First Time IVF Success Tips: Should you use Heparin?

The internet is full of supposed tips and tricks to achieve 1st time IVF success. At InfertilityTV we will explore whether using heparin is helpful in achieving 1st time IVF success

The first question to answer is why was heparin recommended for IVF? Heparins are a group of medications which are primarily used to reduce the chance for blood clots to form in blood vessels. Some studies found a relationship between blood clots forming in the uterus and the risk of miscarriage or recurrent miscarriage. In addition, some women have a medical problem called thrombophilia which means they are at greater risk for having blood clots form.

As a result, some doctors started using heparin in couples with recurrent miscarriage, especially those with thrombophilias, with some success. This led to the question of whether using heparins would also improve the chance for implantation in patients attempting pregnancy with IVF.

A number of studies have been published which have tried to answer this question. The results have been mixed. This means that some studies showed a benefit to using heparin and some studies found no benefit.

This happens fairly often in medicine where studies reach different conclusions. One way to figure out what is going on is to combine all of the smaller studies into one very big study. This is called a meta-analysis. Think of it this way, doctors can be more confident about the results of a study if you have 1,000 patients compared to say 100. Meta-analyses can also weed out studies that were not of very good quality.

So what’s the InfertilityTV bottom line?

In 2018, a meta-analysis of five high quality studies involving nearly 1000 total patients found no benefit in using heparin for IVF. Women given heparins during their IVF cycle didn’t get pregnant more often, they didn’t miscarry less and they didn’t have a baby more often than women who didn’t use heparins. This study did not find a benefit even in couples that had two previous failed IVF cycles or 3 previous failed IVF cycles.

One important thing to note, these studies looked specifically at women who did not have a thrombophilia - a blood clotting problem.

#IVFSuccess #IVFSuccessTip #IVF

Infertility TV is your weekly source for the best medical information if you have infertility, recurrent miscarriage or are just trying to conceive. (TTC). InfertilityTV covers infertility testing, fertility treatments such as Clomid, Follistim and Crinone and fertility treatments like IUI and IVF (in vitro fertilization)

One of the most popular playlists on InfertilityTV are the TTC tips which are great even you are not struggling with infertility

Dr Morris is a practicing IVF and infertility expert who sees patients at IVF! located in the Naperville Fertility Center.

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