It is often difficult for a patient to understand why , when we combine egg and sperm in a ideal laboratory environment and put it in the uterus what appear to be healthy dividing embryos ,IVF could not succeed .IVF could fail for many reasons such as
• Quality of the Embryos – Many healthy looking embryos in lab may die or are unable to grow because they are defective.
• Healthy functional sperm –Sperm appear to be less common factor for successful IVF cycle but play a important supporting role.
• The Age of the Egg –Age of the women plays a important part as women grow old the quality and quantity of eggs decreases.
• Chromosomes – Chromosomal abnormalities in embryo may be responsible for failure to implant.
• Lifestyle – Before proceeding for IVF cycles it is ideal to quit smoking few months before and if you are overweight or underweight reach a healthy BMI before proceeding for IVF.
• IVF lab environment- IVF lab environment should be very ideal, specifically, we tightly control oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, and other factors such as humidity, PH, temperature and light any alteration can lead to death of embryos .

Despite all of the challenges noted above, in vitro fertilization remains extraordinarily successful procedure helping millions of childless couples so failure of 1 IVF cycle does not mean you should give up on your dreams of having a baby sometimes changing the IVF protocol , doing ICSI ,PGD ,proceeding to donor gametes can help.

“Don’t give up before the miracle happens.” – Fannie Flagg