Hi
I'm new to the site and would appreciate advice on the recommended dose of stimulation for a 40 year old. I appreciate that it varies some what between individuals, however I'm wondering if a lower dose may increase egg quality.
To provide a bit of background information, male factor infertility is our issue with a low morphology. Our first IVF cycle was unsuccessful due to zero fertilisation, 8 mature eggs were retrieved following stimulation with 300iu Menopur daily. In the second and third cycles we tried ICSI and my dose of stimulation was increased to 450iu Merional.
I had 14 eggs retrieved during the first ICSI cycle, 9 of which were mature and 15 in the second ICSI cycle, 10 of which were mature. 2 embryos were transferred each time (considered either good or average quality), unfortunately BFNs. So whilst slightly more eggs were retrieved with the higher dose, a proportion were immature and I'm wondering if we should try a cycle with 300iu Menopur/Merional to see if this makes a difference to the quality.
We had 5 embryos the first ICSI cycle and 8 the second, however in both cases 2 were significantly better quality than the others. I've been told that the embryo quality is due to egg quality, most likely due to my age, however I have wondered if the egg quality could have also been affected by the dose of stimulation used. We had no embryos to freeze on either cycle. I would welcome your thoughts. Many thanks.
