Has anyone taken an EFT?

[Anonymous]

My clinic requires an EFT (endometrial function test) prior to doing donor eggs. Has anyone done one? How long did it take to receive your results? Are there any clinics that don't require this prior to donor egg? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I’m guessing this is Dr. Frankfurter at GW, yes? He’s the only one I’ve ever heard of who requires it. He had me do it. It took about the equivalent of two cycles for me. And I have long cycles, so it felt like forever. But overall it’s fine. My result just came back as “normal” so it didn’t really help me. But there is value in ruling out issues.

I believe it cost me about $1k out of pocket, which sucked, but what can you do?

[Anonymous]

PP here. Thank you. Yes, Dr. F. It does seem like it takes a long time. Did you take it for donor egg or to check uterine lining? I'm debating whether to do the EFT at GW or switch clinics for donor egg , which requires an ERA mock cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. Thank you. Yes, Dr. F. It does seem like it takes a long time. Did you take it for donor egg or to check uterine lining? I'm debating whether to do the EFT at GW or switch clinics for donor egg , which requires an ERA mock cycle.

I did it for donor egg. It was probably equivalent to the hassle of doing a mock cycle somewhere else. So, don’t let that be the thing that drives your decision.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I'm just dreading the extra 4-6 weeks for results back from Yale. Plus trying to determine which may be more successful - an EFT at GW or an ERA that other clinics do. Did you have a good DE experience at GW?

[Anonymous]

I think you and I may have interacted on another thread. Yeah, it has been good. I bought a cohort of 7 from Fairfax and it resulted in 3 blasts. We did a fresh transfer of the first blast and it was a BFN. I am prepping now to transfer the second. If that doesn’t work we will transfer the third and then we will be done. I’m getting really anxious, but that isn’t GW’s fault. They have been fantastic throughout. From what I can tell through research and talking with other people who have done an ERA, the EFT test is essentially an ERA plus additional diagnostics. I don’t know exactly how they stack up but I don’t think an ERA is better. If anything it would be equivalent or worse? That’s my lay persons opinion.

Wishing you so much good luck! Happy to answer any other questions.

[Anonymous]

Yes, that was me. I don't know how I missed your response. Did you start tbe FET? Hope the process is going well. I just finished the EFT and am waiting results.

[Anonymous]

Hi! Yes, we transferred our second DE blast last Friday. My gut feeling is that it didn’t stick and we’re looking at another BFN. Both times we used the same FET protocol that we used during the EFT, which said I was receptive, so I’m at a loss for why this isn’t working for us. Who knows.

[Anonymous]

In this case, I hope your gut feeling is wrong. I hope your beta says it stuck.

May i ask what your protocol was for your FET?

For the EFT, I did 12 days of Luproj, two weeks of estogen patches and Luproj, but then had to do so many days of estrogen and progesterone for the EFT. So I'm not sure how that compares to the FET cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this case, I hope your gut feeling is wrong. I hope your beta says it stuck.

May i ask what your protocol was for your FET?

For the EFT, I did 12 days of Luproj, two weeks of estogen patches and Luproj, but then had to do so many days of estrogen and progesterone for the EFT. So I'm not sure how that compares to the FET cycle.

Dr. F had me do the same protocol for the DE transfers that I did for the EFT, with the reasoning that the EFT showed I was receptive so we should stick with that. So, as you said, it required 2 weeks Lupron, 2 weeks Lupron plus estrogen patches, then the 6 days of progesterone suppositories with the amount increasing each day. I did this for transfer 1 and 2. If I find out that transfer 2 also didn’t work, I am going to request that I go back to the regular FET prep protocol for my third attempt. I did the traditional for a 3 day transfer and it did work for me (ended in mc) so I feel like I have some track record of success with the traditional approach.

Of course, my BFNs could have nothing to do with the protocol. So maddening!

[Anonymous]

I'm with you on this, this whole process is maddening.

What was the original traditional FET protocol? Estrogen with 3 days of progesterone?

My EFT was the biopsy on day 3 of progesterone and the other 9 days later. So nervous and unsure about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you on this, this whole process is maddening.

What was the original traditional FET protocol? Estrogen with 3 days of progesterone?

My EFT was the biopsy on day 3 of progesterone and the other 9 days later. So nervous and unsure about it.

It’s been so long that I don’t remember exactly, but generally yes. Estrogen patches and 3 days of progesterone but it was these white water shaped things with an applicator (Endometrin?) and it was 3 days of the same dose, not tapering upward.