Is it common for day 5 blastocysts to suddenly die?

[nsalins]

Hi,

I just went through my second round of ivf. I signed up for CCS because I am 40 years old.

The clinic called on day 5 and said I had 2 blastocysts and 3 cavitating blastocysts. Then they called on day 6 and said they were only able to biopsy 1 embryo for CCS and the other 4 embryos had died before they got a chance to biopsy them.

I'm going to be honest even if this question makes me sound like a paranoid, nasty person.

Is it possible that some of my day 4 blastocysts may have been healthy but they were (unintentionally) destroyed by the embryologist while they were trying to biopsy them for CCS? I don't want to ask my clinic this question since it's basically the same as accusing them of lying. I want to believe them, and I don't have any reason not to believe them, it's just that I thought if an embryo made it to day 5 then I thought the chances of them suddenly dying are low.

I read that only 10% of a 40 year old woman's eggs are going to be euploid. I only produced 9 eggs in my ivf cycle...so it does seem likely that my clinic would only be able to biopsy one of my embryos. But if you could just confirm that it is common for blastocysts to die between day 5 and 6, then that would relieve me of this little seed of suspicion.

Thanks so much.

[nsalins]

Hi,

In paragraph 4 I meant to write 'is it possible that more of my day 5 blastocysts may have been healthy...'.

I wanted to correct my statement since my original typo likely made my question extremely confusing.

Thanks again.

[Dr. Wisot]

In my experience it is unusual for Day 5 blastocysts to "die." We usually biopsy on Day 5 which would lead me to believe that yours were not full blasts on Day 5.

This sounds strange and I would suggest that you have your records transferred to another clinic for a second opinion to relieve your concerns.

Arthur L. Wisot, M.D.