Question:
Dr. Ramirez, I have some empyos frozen. I have adenomyois and endo and chronic endometritis diagnosed.
Have done antibiotic treatment with uterine lavages and IVs.
After depot lupron treatment, is it better to do a natural FET (frozen empyo transfer) or medicated FET. Since it takes about 2-3 months to wait for period to arrive is it better to do a medicated FET? I am concerned about medicated FET as the last time I did a medicated FET I had fluid in the uterus although nearer to transfer it disappeared and I did go on to transfer although BFN (big fat negative).
My RE seems to want to wait for a period before transfer but would not that waste 2-3 months since you said the endo can return in 6 months? Will the cycle be regular and as in ovulation or will it be not regular when I do FET. At the moment my cycles are regular. I have also heard of high dose progesteone treatments treating endo and adeno. Can you explain how this works?
I am confused what to do as we have limited empyos and want to do everything as possible as once the empyos are used up we are done.
Thank you. R. from Rhode Island
Answer:
Hello R. from the U.S. (Rhode Island),
Your RE should have explained that one of the critical steps in getting pregnant, natural or with IVF, is the state of the uterine lining at the time the empyo reaches it for implantation. We know that there is a very limited time that the empyo can implant and the endometrial lining has to be in a very specific and correct microscopic state for implantation to occur. This is where timing is absolutely essential. If you miss this "implantation window", then it will fail.
Conceivably you could do this with a natural cycle, but then there is a wider margin of error because we don't know exactly what the timing is or what is going on microscopically in the uterus. For this reason, we do not do this in FET cycles. FET cycles are always done as a controlled and programmed cycle. With this protocol, you can have a period induced artificially with medication and then start the cycle, but most clinics will want their patients to be on the birth control pill for at least two weeks period to the FET cycle in order to suppress the ovaries, which then allow complete control of the FET cycle.
If this is in fact gong to be your last attempts at getting pregnant, then I would make absolutely certain that you are in the best clinic that you can be in and that it will give you the highest chances of success. A good clinic would be able to answer these questions and make sure everything is clearly laid out.
Finally, in terms of progesterone treatment with endometriosis and adenomyosis, progesterone has suppressive action or counteracts estrogen in estrogen receptors. AS you probably know, endometriosis/adenomyosis are stimulated by estrogen and therefore, will be somewhat suppressed by progesterone. However, there is still some small amount of stimulation so progesterone is not the perfect treatment. Estrogen receptor blockers such as Lupron are better at suppressing endometriosis. Progesterone is used mainly to slow down the recurrence of the endometriosis after they have been treated with surgery or Lupron.
Good Luck,
Dr. Edward J. Ramirez, M.D., FACOG
Executive Medical Director
The Fertility and Gynecology Center
Monterey Bay IVF Program
Monterey, California, U.S.A.
