Finally! The fertility journey to motherhood is nearing its final stage. Embryo transfer is the last step leading to the happiness you have been dreaming. IVF involves placing lab-fertilized embryos into the woman’s uterus through a simple procedure.

Two types of embryos can be transferred: fresh and frozen. Which one is the best? Let’s see their pros and cons.

What is fresh embryo transfer?

In this case, fresh embryo transfer follows the IVF stimulation of the woman’s ovaries and immediately after the egg retrieval procedure. After successful fertilization, fresh embryo transfer can be performed within six days.

What is frozen embryo transfer?

In fact, this term is not entirely correct, because frozen embryos are thawed before they are transferred. To be more precise, they were frozen during a previous IVF cycle.

Both frozen and fresh embryo transfer depend on many factors such as the age of the woman, the age of the donor, the quality of the sperm and the general health of the expectant mother. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. You will be surprised by doing a search of articles on the Internet that FET, Frozen Embryo Transfer, is considered a better method than fresh embryo transfer.

Advantages of fresh embryo transfer

Fresh embryo transfer is a shorter procedure. The eggs and sperm are fertilized in a laboratory and the resulting embryo is developed and monitored. The shortest time to conception from the waiting period is five days between egg retrieval and embryo transfer into the woman’s uterus. This is the biggest advantage, compared to frozen embryo transfer.

Advantages of frozen embryo transfer

The cost is lower

It’s true that IVF can be expensive. However, if your first attempt was not successful, obtaining additional frozen embryos will help alleviate the need to take some of the very expensive fertility drugs.

Become a mother when you are ready

The frozen embryo can enable you to get pregnant whenever you feel ready. You can plan when you would like the transfer and helps you preserve your fertility by freezing your eggs or embryos.

Maintain your fertility under difficult conditions

There are cases, hopefully rare, when the intended parents or one of them may experience infertility problems due to medical problems or chemotherapy. So, they decide to freeze embryos earlier. Freezing embryos before intensive medical treatment keeps the dream of parenthood alive.

Less mental and physical stress

The FET process is less tedious, demanding and stressful. The reason is that the only drugs you will need are those that help thicken the lining of your uterus in preparation for your embryo transfer. In contrast, fresh transfer requires egg development and drugs to stimulate and develop the embryo.

Gender selection and genetic control

Freezing embryos gives you the ability to check for abnormalities and even choose the gender before transfer. Your doctor can also choose the embryo or embryos that have the best chance of successful implantation and pregnancy, as well as reduce the chances of miscarriage.

Reducing the risk of OHSS

For some women there is a risk of OHSS (Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome) after an egg retrieval and transfer procedure. Although the signs can usually be mild, it is very possible to cause cysts, releasing excess of the hormones, progesterone and estrogen.

In conclusion, it may even prevent or eliminate late-onset ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome.

Time for your body to recover

FET helps a woman’s body recover from an IVF stimulation cycle and the egg retrieval step, also helping the endometrial lining of the uterus to be more conducive increasing implantation success. It also makes the uterus more receptive again giving hormones time to return to normal levels creating a welcoming environment for the embryo.

Increase in positive rates

Many researches show that frozen transfers can increase implantation rates, live birth rates, continued pregnancy rates, and help babies be healthier. Frozen embryo transfer appears to be superior to fresh embryo transfer. But, that’s not to say that both have their cons.

Disadvantages of fresh embryo

• Hormone levels increase during ovarian stimulation.
• There is a possibility that the lining of the uterus is less receptive to embryo transfer.
• According to some studies during a fresh embryo transfer, high estrogen levels interfere with the receptivity of the uterus.
• The embryo may not be good enough or be genetically abnormal, factors that lead to implantation failure.
• The endometrium does not have the required receptivity and as a result does not allow the embryo to implant.

Disadvantages of frozen embryos

• The embryo may not survive the freezing or thawing process. Although in recent years the technology regarding egg freezing has advanced dramatically with a 95% success rate, there is still a 5% error or pregnancy failure rate.
• If you are on your first IVF cycle, there are costs associated with egg freezing, fertilization and implantation of the eggs years later.
• Embryo implantation after frozen blastocyst transfer (FET) may be delayed compared to fresh blastocyst transfer.
• FET can involve extra time, which adds another month to the wait and can be frustrating for a woman trying to have a baby.

No matter what you read, the best way to decide between the two embryo transfers is to talk to experts in this field, your doctor and decide which is the best, safest and most successful transfer for you.