What are the risks?

Before starting an assisted reproduction treatment, you should know about some of the inherent risks. The main problem which may arise is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which is caused by the hormone treatment. This syndrome occurs because, sometimes, the female body overreacts to the treatments, producing an excessive number of eggs which in turn generates a certain amount of abdominal discomfort for a few days. In cases like this, we sometimes recommend stopping the medication to avoid any risks. In any case, the percentage of cases in which hyperstimulation occurs is very low nowadays, thanks to advances in stimulation protocols and lab techniques. Your gynaecologist will always warn you during your check-ups whether or not you are at risk.

In the worst of cases, you will be kept under observation in a clinic for those few days. To give you peace of mind, in our 35 years of experience in assisted reproduction here at Ginefiv, we have had no cases of patients suffering any serious consequences.

Furthermore, as we no longer use general anaesthetic in the majority of cases; the possible complications in this regard are also very unlikely. Another risk worth mentioning before starting an assisted reproduction treatment is the possibility of multiple pregnancy. Even though it is permitted by law to transfer up to three embryos to the same patient at the same time, at Ginefiv we almost always transfer one or two embryos only, to minimise this risk.

In in vitro fertilisation, if two embryos are transferred on day 3 of their development, the chance of multiple pregnancy is 20%. If you really do not want to take this chance, you can either transfer a single embryo on day 3 of development or wait until day 5 when it reaches the blastocyst phase, if the number and quality of your embryos permits this.

Thanks to the growing effectiveness of IVF processes, fewer and fewer embryos are needed to make a transfer that results in a healthy, full term gestation and therefore we are seeing a reduction in the frequency of multiple pregnancy.