If age is low and egg number is high, generally speaking, IVF will work. Sure PCO patients get high numbers of lower quality eggs, but besides PCO, usually if you are young with a good egg count, IVF will work and if you are older than 40 with a low egg count, it often will not.

A study published this month in the journal Fertility and Sterility is going to be a useful tool to help doctors counsel patients about anticipated IVF success rates.

The study, titled “Minimum number of mature oocytes needed to obtain at least one euploid

blastocyst according to female age in in vitro fertilization treatment cycles,” examined IVF-PGT-A treatments done over a 5 year period. A total of 2660 cycles were examined.  

A few observations:

• Until age 39, fewer than 10 eggs is all that is needed to obtain a chromosomally normal embryo.
• After age 42 you need more than 30 eggs, on average, to get a chromosomally normal embryo (or very good luck).

When I assess a patient before IVF, I review their AMH level and their antral follicle count, in addition to their history. This assessments give me a pretty reliable sense of the number of eggs I expect to obtain from an IVF cycle. From there, visually, I can show a patient how likely it is they will get a chromosomal normal embryo.  

This study reminds us the importance of quantity and quality in finding IVF success. 

Reference: Rodríguez-Varela C, Mascarós JM, Labarta E, Silla N, Bosch E. Minimum number of mature oocytes needed to obtain at least one euploid blastocyst according to female age in in vitro fertilization treatment cycles. Fertil Steril. 2024 Oct;122(4):658-666.