Antral Follicle Counts

[Anonymous]

PP here with the AFC of 8. My RE did it in day 2. She kept hoping that another one or two were there and would become visible during stims, but that never happened. However, 8 turned out to be enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did one round of IVF at 39 and my AFC was 16 total - but bizarrely, I ended up only getting 4 eggs (I think my doc understimmed me). In the end it worked out because one of those became my DC. Yes, an AFC of 8 is not high, but as a PP said, it's pretty normal at 39. Depending on your stim protocol and your body's response, more follicles could pop up during an IVF cycle. Also, what is your AMH? My RE always believed that was more predictive than AFC (I think docs differ on this).

When did you do your ultrasound? I read everywhere it should be day 5-7 of the cycle, she did it on day 2.
I have a late ovulation and could it be that my follicles did not show yet?

Also I did not like the tech, she couldn’t get around my fibroid and had to call another tech for help.
Should I call my dr and ask for another ultrasound on Friday?

Also I read that number of follicles very month to month.

This is OP

I don't think you are doomed. The real question is what is the quality of the eggs which without doing IVF is hard to know.

One thing I would ask your RE is whether s/he anticipates that the fibroid could prevent access to the follicles (especially if it's already making ultrasound of ovaries challenging. I had a fibroid and ultimately it prevented the RE from accessing at least 3 of the follicles during my first round of IVF - and that was on the side where more of the follicles were mature. I think my fibroid also grew during IVF. My ob strongly recommended I get it removed before any more rounds of IVF which I did and was able to have more mature eggs retrieved during the second round. The ultrasound for my second round was done on day 3 (can't recall exactly the first round. I think day 2 -5 is normal. I did have a few more follicles than AFC count in each round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did one round of IVF at 39 and my AFC was 16 total - but bizarrely, I ended up only getting 4 eggs (I think my doc understimmed me). In the end it worked out because one of those became my DC. Yes, an AFC of 8 is not high, but as a PP said, it's pretty normal at 39. Depending on your stim protocol and your body's response, more follicles could pop up during an IVF cycle. Also, what is your AMH? My RE always believed that was more predictive than AFC (I think docs differ on this).

When did you do your ultrasound? I read everywhere it should be day 5-7 of the cycle, she did it on day 2.
I have a late ovulation and could it be that my follicles did not show yet?

Also I did not like the tech, she couldn’t get around my fibroid and had to call another tech for help.
Should I call my dr and ask for another ultrasound on Friday?

Also I read that number of follicles very month to month.

This is OP

I don't think you are doomed. The real question is what is the quality of the eggs which without doing IVF is hard to know.

One thing I would ask your RE is whether s/he anticipates that the fibroid could prevent access to the follicles (especially if it's already making ultrasound of ovaries challenging. I had a fibroid and ultimately it prevented the RE from accessing at least 3 of the follicles during my first round of IVF - and that was on the side where more of the follicles were mature. I think my fibroid also grew during IVF. My ob strongly recommended I get it removed before any more rounds of IVF which I did and was able to have more mature eggs retrieved during the second round. The ultrasound for my second round was done on day 3 (can't recall exactly the first round. I think day 2 -5 is normal. I did have a few more follicles than AFC count in each round.

The nurse said that fibroid is not on the way, but I will double check with my doctor.
The fibroid couldn’t be removed, I had laparoscopic surgery last year and it was unsuccessful, my doctor said it is attached to one of the arteries and it would cause internal bleeding and possible removal of the whole uterus. So she left it there but said it’s not on the way of anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did one round of IVF at 39 and my AFC was 16 total - but bizarrely, I ended up only getting 4 eggs (I think my doc understimmed me). In the end it worked out because one of those became my DC. Yes, an AFC of 8 is not high, but as a PP said, it's pretty normal at 39. Depending on your stim protocol and your body's response, more follicles could pop up during an IVF cycle. Also, what is your AMH? My RE always believed that was more predictive than AFC (I think docs differ on this).

When did you do your ultrasound? I read everywhere it should be day 5-7 of the cycle, she did it on day 2.
I have a late ovulation and could it be that my follicles did not show yet?

Also I did not like the tech, she couldn’t get around my fibroid and had to call another tech for help.
Should I call my dr and ask for another ultrasound on Friday?

Also I read that number of follicles very month to month.

This is OP

Ultrasound for AFC should be on cd2-4. Counts can vary, but you shouldn’t expect wide swings, more like plus or minus one or two. Listen would 15 be better, probably, but some people will get more blasts from 8 than others get from 20 and you really just don’t know until you try unfortunately. I don’t think 8 is terrible or means you won’t have success, but you obviously want to move aggressively and ask your doctor to recommend supplements so you can maximize egg quality. Age is the most important predictor of quality, but there is some evidence for some supplements like CoQ10 and DHEA (especially for older patients or those with lower ovarian reserve), but ask your doctor about this first.

[Anonymous]

An AFC of 8 is plenty if your egg quality is good. If it's not, then IVF will be an uphill battle regardless. You are absolutely not doomed, but I would try one cycle to see how you do, then consider mini-stims or natural cycle if your response isn't great.

My AFC ranges from 7-8 and I got 5 eggs on max stims, and around 3 on mini stims. I'm also a poor responder, which not everyone who has a low AMH/AFC is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did one round of IVF at 39 and my AFC was 16 total - but bizarrely, I ended up only getting 4 eggs (I think my doc understimmed me). In the end it worked out because one of those became my DC. Yes, an AFC of 8 is not high, but as a PP said, it's pretty normal at 39. Depending on your stim protocol and your body's response, more follicles could pop up during an IVF cycle. Also, what is your AMH? My RE always believed that was more predictive than AFC (I think docs differ on this).

When did you do your ultrasound? I read everywhere it should be day 5-7 of the cycle, she did it on day 2.
I have a late ovulation and could it be that my follicles did not show yet?

Also I did not like the tech, she couldn’t get around my fibroid and had to call another tech for help.
Should I call my dr and ask for another ultrasound on Friday?

Also I read that number of follicles very month to month.

This is OP

Ultrasound for AFC should be on cd2-4. Counts can vary, but you shouldn’t expect wide swings, more like plus or minus one or two. Listen would 15 be better, probably, but some people will get more blasts from 8 than others get from 20 and you really just don’t know until you try unfortunately. I don’t think 8 is terrible or means you won’t have success, but you obviously want to move aggressively and ask your doctor to recommend supplements so you can maximize egg quality. Age is the most important predictor of quality, but there is some evidence for some supplements like CoQ10 and DHEA (especially for older patients or those with lower ovarian reserve), but ask your doctor about this first.

My AFC for my IVF cycle/FET (took 3mo) was 20, 15, 10 (age 35). Was back two years later for a sonohisto and it was 12 (age 37).

Did the retrieval on the 15 month, 13 eggs retrieved 10 mature 10 fertilized 8 blasts.

100% agree with whoever said egg quality is a huge factor. There are PCOS patients who get 20 or 40 eggs and hardly any of them turn into blasts, and sometimes a 40 year old woman with only 3 eggs retrieved can make 1 or 2 good blasts.

Impossible to know before you do a cycle, and there is also variability between cycles.

[Anonymous]

Mine total follicle count was never above 7. My dr stressed - it’s quality not quantity. I was 37 when I got pregnant with my first and 39 with my second. 4 IVF rounds total.

Good luck, op.