IVF FAQ

The risk of multiple gestation—twins, triplets, and higher order multiple pregnancies— is more common in women who undergo IVF. The rate of having twins with IVF is approximately 25 percent and the rate of having three or more babies is approximately 5 percent.

We accept bank transfer, VISA, MasterCard, debit, and cash payment.

All payments for treatments and procedures are to be made prior to the process being carried out. When you do IVF, all payments are expected prior to the start of the IVF cycle.

Our fertility specialist will review the results of your sperm test with you. The sperm analysis looks at concentration, motility, how well they are swimming in a forward direction, viability, morphology (how sperm look), presence of infection and the total number of sperm that are moving.

Yes.

Pregnancy success with IVF is very dependent upon the age of the woman seeking treatment and her eggs. Embryon accepts patients over the age of 50 using egg donation or previously frozen embryos and has had remarkable success treating patients of advanced age.

Many of our patients come to us from abroad. Medical and coordinator consultations can all be done by telephone or skype; many of the required screening tests and procedures, including initial fertility stimulation treatment, can be coordinated with a patient’s local practitioners. Those who have started stimulation treatment at home will travel to our clinic about 7 days later.. Our staff is always available to help and counsel out of town patients throughout treatment, via telephone, text or e-mail.

It is possible to arrange for freezing of a sample prior to the procedure or to arrange via courier if abroad. Please inquire about your options with your coordinator.

If there is sufficient concern that sperm will not be produced as a fresh sample on the day of IVF and/or ICSI or when it is needed for an insemination, it is possible to arrange for freezing of a sample prior to the procedure.

If it is unexpected that sperm is not produced on the day of the egg retrieval, your eggs can be frozen for use later on or a surgical retrieval of sperm can be arranged the same day.

All of our patients are given appropriate amounts of pain relief during the egg retrieval but usually there is no or very light pain. Some patients are more sensitive to pain that others and some ovaries are more sensitive also but generally this procedure is relatively painless to mildly uncomfortable. If you have pain during the procedure, please tell the nurse and additional pain management will be administered.

Studies have shown the lying down after an embryo transfer does not improve the chance of a pregnancy establishing itself. Recent studies suggest that lying down after the embryo transfer with IVF reduces your chance of pregnancy. You will be recommended to take it easy for the remainder of the day after your embryo transfer but you do not need to take the day off work.

Smoking is known to affect both sperm and eggs in terms of their quality and therefore ability to fertilize. It is known that women who smoke undergo menopause on average 2 years earlier than non-smokers. Success of IVF is also significantly affected.

Excessive alcohol consumption is also known to decrease fertility. Though difficult to measure, stress affects the reproductive tract in a negative way. A large amount of caffeine consumed on a daily basis also decreases fertility.

The timing of the ultrasounds occurs on day 2 of the cycle and then again starting close to ovulation (most commonly on day 7 and 9 ).

Continuing with your sex life is perfectly fine during treatment. There may be times during your treatment when your physician recommends not having sex or using condoms in order to prevent an unexpected pregnancy. This is most common when having a test in which a pregnancy could be negatively affected (HSG, sonohysterogram) by the test.

When patients are undergoing IVF treatment, they may find intercourse uncomfortable when the ovaries are getting large during the stimulation. When it is approaching time for an insemination or production of sperm to be used in IVF, you will be advised to abstain from intercourse for 48 hours or more.

Most herbal supplements are considered safe but because there is often minimal to no research on how they influence outcomes of infertility treatment, your physician is likely to recommend stopping all herbal supplements during your fertility treatment. This will be an individual choice.

Yes. Sometimes patients do not respond to the stimulation medications as expected. They produce too few eggs or eggs that are not growing simultaneously. These patients may benefit from stopping the cycle and starting again with a different protocol and/or a higher dose of medications at the start. This is a decision that you and your physician will make together.

Fibroids are an abnormal growth of the muscle cells of the uterus. They can grow in the wall of the uterus, on the outside of the uterus and in the cavity of the uterus. They are almost never cancer.

Not all fibroids need to be removed. If they are causing symptoms (pelvic pain, bowel and bladder problems, heavy bleeding, miscarriage) then it may be advisable to discuss removing them with your doctor.

If you are not having symptoms, then they do not need to be removed. For patients who are attempting to become pregnant or have had miscarriages, it is thought that fibroids that are in the cavity of the uterus may be contributing to the problem. Our fertility doctor may discuss removing them.

One of the easiest ways to find out if you have fibroids is to have an ultrasound done. Ultrasound can see most fibroids and measure their size and location. Some patients will have an MRI to view their fibroids.

PCOS is a condition that has 2 or more of the following features – irregular cycles, problems with acne or hair growth in a male pattern or elevated male hormones in the blood and ovaries that have lots of potential eggs most commonly arranged around the outside edge of the ovary. We do not know why patients develop PCOS but it does appear that the underlying problem in the condition may be how the body handles insulin.

Simply, the body has difficulty handling glucose so the insulin goes up and therefore the male hormones go up and then the menstrual cycle gets interrupted. There is no cure. There is some suggestion that a patients with PCOS will find their menses become more regular as she ages.

Endometriosis growth is driven by estrogen. Estrogen goes up during ovarian stimulation but the duration of time is too short to cause regrowth of endometriosis. Endometriosis will likely return over time regardless of IVF treatment as long as the patient has sufficient estrogen in their body.

In Cyprus, commercial egg donation is permitted from an anonymous donor only.

Pregnancy success using frozen embryos has steadily increased over the years. This is due to a change in the way embryos are frozen. They are now frozen with a process called vitrification. With vitrification, embryo survival after thawing is high (>90%). There is now significant evidence suggesting that pregnancy rates with frozen embryos are as good if not higher than with fresh embryos. Studies also are showing that the health of the pregnancy and baby may be higher with frozen embryos. Your physician may suggest freezing all of your embryos from an IVF cycle and only doing a frozen embryo transfer.

For an egg to be fertilized, it should be mature and structurally normal. All the eggs retrieved are not appropriate for fertilization. Each fertilized egg doesn’t turn into a healthy embryo either.

There can be remaining embryos and these are re-evaluated by our embryologist and if there are embryos with sufficient quality, couples are advised for their cryopreservation. Alternatively parents may decide also to donate their embryos to other couples in need, or discard.