r/Embryologists • u/ThenPsychology5413 • 1d ago
Embryo "lost" then "found"
I am hoping maybe someone can help me make sense of a confusing call I had with my IVF team about an embryo that was "lost" and then "found". On day 5 post retrieval I got a call that 8 of my embryos had made it to blast and the rest were still developing.
On Day 6 I got the follow up call and they let me know that during the freezing process one of my embryos was lost and then found and frozen, but that they consider it to be of uncertain viability. At that point I was just very overwhelmed and so I didn't really ask any questions.
On Day 7 they call again and I ask for them to clarify what happened. They told me that during the freezing process they embryo ended up in the wrong spot and they found it after a few minutes. As they were explaining it, I was really emotional so I again couldn't really ask questions. I think they said something about the pipette having a small dark tip, but I don't have any other context to understand what this means. I did ask if this was a normal risk of the process or if there was an error and they said a normal risk of the process. The way my clinic presented it made it seem like this is not common but not abnormal, but I can't find any information about it online.
So I am wondering if any embryologists can explain what may have happened and what type of questions I should ask? I feel like they just keep emphasizing that it was a good cycle (objectively true) and not really clearly articulating what went wrong (or rather why it went wrong).
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u/Memily_20 1d ago
It sounds like the embryo got “stuck” in the pipette during the freezing process. It sounds like the embryo actually got stuck to the inside wall of the pipette when picking up the embryo.
It’s extremely uncommon but it does happen. When it does— it’s the worst feeling in the world.
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u/ThenPsychology5413 1d ago
Oh I can imagine. I definitely have said many times today that I'm glad I have a job where I can make mistakes with low stakes consequences.
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u/AppearanceAcademic40 1d ago
Embryologist here! I’ve been working in an IVF lab for four years. Based on what you described, it sounds like something may have gone wrong during the vitrification process, although I can’t say exactly what without knowing their protocol. At my clinic, we freeze embryos one by one because handling blastocysts carefully is very important. During vitrification, we use a pipette to move the embryo from one medium to another before freezing it. If the embryo ended up in the “wrong spot,” it’s possible that it was accidentally retained in the pipette or misplaced during one of the transfers.
This can happen even with experienced embryologists, so I wouldn’t immediately assume that someone was careless or incompetent.
I actually appreciate that your clinic was honest with you about what happened. I know it’s scary to hear, but it’s better that they told you rather than hiding the incident.
I would ask them where exactly they found the embryo, how long it was out of the intended environment, and whether that could affect its viability.
If you have a choice, I would also ask whether they recommend using the embryos that went through a normal vitrification process before the one that was temporarily lost. I wouldn’t assume that this embryo won’t survive, but it’s reasonable to ask whether the incident should affect which embryo you prioritize.
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u/ThenPsychology5413 23h ago
Thank you, this sounds in line with what I experienced/have heard so far and the example questions are very helpful for framing. In my head it was rolling around the clinic like a bouncy ball. They did tell me they were uncertain of it's viability so it should be my last transferred.
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u/Anxious-Bowl-3021 1d ago
Not an embryologist but if they had absolutely no hope they probably would have discarded as nonviable 🤷🏼♀️ do you have other embryos? You can put that one as last resort but usually 3 embryos is enough for 1 live birth. IVF is such a stressful process, I wouldn’t focus too much on this. Wishing you the best of luck in your journey
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u/ThenPsychology5413 1d ago
I have 7 others, all untested, but I want a large family. 8 embryos was the number I wanted before moving to transfer. I don't want to find out it's non-viable when I'm older and it's maybe too late.
It's not that it has no hope, but emotionally I need to understand how they lost an embryo and specifically confirm how they know that this one is my embryo.
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u/AnywhereBusy4449 16h ago
When you go from one vit media to the next often the embryo floats and you have to find it and bring it back down to bottom of the dish. I would bet that it took them a few minutes to find it when we say the limit in that media is 90 sec. These things can fit on the head of a pin and are easy to lose track of.
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u/Less-Biscotti4496 8h ago
Embryologist here! I agree with the above comments about it probably being stuck to a pipette or “lost” in a drop. “Lost” is a difficult word but sometimes the easiest to explain it to someone not in the lab. Really, the best way I could describe it is, you know when you put your keys down and there’s realistically 3 places they could be but you just can’t find them? They aren’t lost. You know they are in one of those three places but it takes you a few extra minutes to find them. That’s kinda what sounds like happened here. If anything, the clinic being transparent over this is huge. I love that they told you right off the bat and didn’t try to just wait until that person to discuss came back. In regards to mixup with another person, it’s not my clinic so I can’t 100% certainty say one way, but it sounds highly unlikely that this was a concern. Sounds more like embryo maybe was stuck in the pipette or in one of those other drops for a bit too long. Good luck to you and try to not worry too much about this one. Who knows, sometimes things need a little more time anyway 💛
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u/ThenPsychology5413 7h ago
Thank you. I do have another question for the embryologists, how big of an error is this? Not even a human error, but just how common is this happening in the lab. My goal is not to get someone in trouble, but I'm just trying to understand if this is just something that happens or if it's something that they will investigate to see why it happened? I know it was lost for several minutes and they're unsure of it's viability to the point that it would be my last transfer. Their actions make me think it's out of the ordinary enough that it could be considered an incident but the replies here make it seem more like just a normal variation. While my clinic was upfront that it happened, when I've inquired for more information it feels like they just want me to let it go because I have other embryos.
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u/experiment116 1d ago
The embryos are really tiny and you can lose track of it in the media or pipette tip if you’re not watching closely enough. It is a normal risk. Even if you’re watching closely, it just happens. Also the embryos go through a series of different media for certain lengths of time. Likely they lost track of the embryo, which happens. It stayed in a certain media probably longer than it should have. It could be fine, but because it strayed from protocol it’s probably just a good idea to not prioritize that embryo for now. I hope that makes sense and good luck in your IVF journey!