What happens with unused embryos?

Hello everybody,

I had various eggs retrieved after the follicular puncture and from them I got a good amount of good quality embryos, or at least that’s what they said at the fertility clinic. My embryo transfer is due for next week, but I’ve a question: although I got various embryos, my ET will be a 2-embryo transfer… what happens to leftover embryos then? I’ve heard they are frozen, but what is the lifespan of frozen embryos?

Hello Coco,

There are different options related to what you can do with unused embryos after undergoing a fertility treatment.

The most common one is embryo freezing, an alternative in which the leftover embryos are frozen to be used in future fertility treatments, for example, in case you wish to have a second child or because the first ET was unsuccessful and you want to repeat it.

A second option is embryo donation, in which case you donate your unused embryos to another couples so that they can use them for their fertility treatment.

A third option is donating them to research. This way you are helping the scientific community in the path of improvement to better quality assisted reproductive technologies.

Finally, you can choose to literally destroy them, but it should be clear that this option is only possible once your maternal age comes to its end.

Hope this helps