2dt vs 5dt

Matthews Wifey · March 2010

How many of you did 2 or 3dt and how many did 5dt. Originally we were going to do a 5 dt but at my appt today she said probablly do a 2dt so that we have more embryos left to freeze. She said there is a slightly higher success rate with a 5day but felt good about doing a 2dt. I am still on BCP and will start stimming in a few weeks so I have no idea how many embryos we will even have but I am so nervous about this 2dt now. I wish I had a crystal ball and could look to see if/when I will be a mom. Did you all have fears that you would never become a mom? I think about it everyday...it is my biggest fear and its so depressing. Also my dx is unexplained with mild endo that was removed. My DH has no sperm issues and is excellent.

krissyh21 · March 2010

My doctor didn't make the decision until I had the eggs retrieved and they could judge the quality of the embryos. He also did not freeze anything until day 6, so he wasn't freezing embryos that arrested before that point. I did 2 IVFs with transfer on day 3 and my successful one was a 5 day transfer. I do have to add though that the day 5 transfer yeilded my best looking embryo out of all 3 tries so think that contributed to my success more so then the actual day it was put back in.

I think what you are feeling is normal. I don't think any of us could see the light at the end while we were in the middle of it all. Good luck this cycle.

Matthews Wifey · March 2010

Thanks. It is such a hard decision to make and I am so torn on what to do.

DavezWife · March 2010

take this with 43 grains of salt, cuz I have not done IVF, but about to...

From what I get (and I've been reading and asking) ... You want to cook them as long as possible to xfer the very best and strongest. If you freeze them all at day 2, sure, you may have "12 embies frozen" but that is far from the statement "I have 12 good embies frozen." cuz it's too early to tell.

In my case, I don't really WANT 12 good embies left... we'd love to transfer a couple choice ones, and have 2 great ones for a FET in a year or two. I don't know what I'd do if I lots of left over embies. (but that's ME). I'm going to cross that decision if/when we come to it.

FWIW, (again, just my novice observation) I don't recall seeing many 2dt's around here.

GL to you!!

Kahana · March 2010

We did a 2dt because we had to. We only had 2 poor quality embryos and the Dr. didn't think they would make it to day 3. It obviously worked for us but if I had more embryos we would've preferred a 3dt.

jodyplustwinsx2 · March 2010

I did a day 3 ET with my girls. Because our embryo quality was crap. We had to transfer 4 embies to get 2 live babies.

I've done a lot of research on day 3 vs. day 5 since then because my initial impulse this time was to want to do what worked for me before (i.e., a day 3 ET). However, I've become convinced now that a day 5 ET is absolutely the best call. First of all, my RE has some of the highest success rates around (74% in my age/prognosis category!) and they absolutely try to get to a day 5 ET. They also ONLY freeze on day 6. I don't think it's any coincidence that their FET rates are almost as high as their fresh rates. Why? Because any idiot can freeze embies on day 2 or day 3, but the reality is that blasts survive the thaw better and have higher success rates. While only 20% of my RE's patients have ANY frozen embies, that 20% has a very high success rate for FETs (well over 60%).

Anyway, back to day 3 vs. day 5. There is a lot of debate over this. The controversy is that many patients will never have any embies make it to day 5, so a lot of REs will default to day 3 unless someone has a billion embies. This ensures (in most cases) a transfer. However, it doesn't actually give you a great shot at implantation per embie, which creates a need to transfer more embies to get pregnant at all.

I just read a study that showed that women who are mid to high responders (which was defined as having 10+ follies at 12 mm and 4+ follies at 16 mm on the day of trigger) have a 50% implantation rate/71% overall pg rate with day 5 ETs, compared to a 33% implantation rate/66% overall pg rate. As you can see, the overall pg rate is similar, but each individual embie has a fairly dramatically reduced chance of sticking. Plus, only 7% of women in another study who were told to proceed to day 5 but opted for a day 3 transfer on their own didn't make it to day 5.

The moral of this story is: Day 5 is better. It has higher implantation rates. It allows successful pgs without transferring as many embies. The VAST majority of women who are selected for day 5 ET by their REs will, in fact, make it to day 5 ET, so the fear of cancellation is overrated.

However, this doesn't mean day 3 ET isn't good or that it doesn't work. It just means that if all signs point to day 5 (my clinic requires 5 or more grade 3 or higher embryos on day 3), day 5 is clearly the better option. While not all embies will make it to day 5, they have done a good job identifying good candidates for it. If you're not one, no worries... remember that the overall pg rate is similar.

Personally, I'd be leery of an RE who was telling me they were going to freeze my embies on day 2 and wanted me to do a day 2 ET no matter what. It makes me question the quality of their lab/cultures. Any good RE should be pushing for day 5 ET and using day 2/3 as a fallback.

Phew. End soapbox.

Courted · March 2010

I did a 5dt. I didn't have a choice. My RE just prefers 5dt over 3dt. I know that with the 5dt the embies have developed a bit more, but other than that I am not completely sure of the differences. I am on my BCP now too, GL with your cycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

trish3905 · March 2010

I agree with previous posters - whether a 3dt or 5dt is the best for you is more of a gametime decision by your RE. We did a 5dt because I had a high number of eggs that were retrieved and fertilized.

And of course, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to have kids. My husband and I just focused on staying positive, keeping the faith, and listening to "You and Me" by Dave Matthews a lot

Matthews Wifey · March 2010

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your input. I am so glad I have people to ask about this. I am going to ask my RE if we can decide after we know how many embryos we have. If we have a high number I would much rather wait it out til day 5 but if we don't have alot I will probably push for a 2dt. My clinic has very good sucess with IVF and are a very well known clinic so I don't doubt that they know what they are doing but I have only heard of 3 and 5dt so I am going to ask if we can at least do a 3dt instead of 2dt.

JillRock96 · March 2010

With all three IVF cycles, we did 3dt -- my clinic has very stringent criteria for 5dt, and we never met the criteria.

1st cycle -- transferred two, chem pg

2nd cycle -- transferred two, carrying twins, lost one at 10 weeks (other is in my siggy!)

3rd cycle -- transferred two, still carrying twins

Good luck!

Matthews Wifey · March 2010

Thanks...that makes me feel a lot better knowing you have had great success with a 3 dt.

jcombs · March 2010

Well I had my first clinic in Fargo only does 3dt and transferred 3 great quality embies with a bfn. I had 4 frozen (this was out of 8 fertilized eggs). I decided to change to Dr. Corfman in the Cities and he cultured 2 of my 3day embies to blasts and I'm pregnant with one. I think deciding before you see how many and their progress is a red flag. I also think if we had cultured all 7 embies to day 5, I might have been pregnant the first cycle. Good luck!

Want a personalized experience?

2dt vs 5dt

Re: 2dt vs 5dt

Choose Another Board

Search Boards