Do women with PCOS have higher success rates with IVF?

[Anonymous]

Since PCOS means you have fewer periods in your life, does that mean you can expect more eggs to be retrieved during IVF? And does that translate to higher chances of successful pregnancy?

I’m wondering about my chances. 31, never before pregnant, PCOS but normal weight, AMH of 14. Only get periods 2-3 times a year.

[Anonymous]

How long have you been trying before IVF? I think women with PCOS have higher chances of getting pregnant later in adulthood period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long have you been trying before IVF? I think women with PCOS have higher chances of getting pregnant later in adulthood period.

6 IUIs. Using donor sperm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since PCOS means you have fewer periods in your life, does that mean you can expect more eggs to be retrieved during IVF? And does that translate to higher chances of successful pregnancy?

I’m wondering about my chances. 31, never before pregnant, PCOS but normal weight, AMH of 14. Only get periods 2-3 times a year.

So yes people with pcos get more eggs generally, not for the reason you mentioned. That’s not how it works, basically there is a cohort of potential eggs every cycle, generally only one matures and is released and the rest just fade away and aren’t usable for the future. For PCOS that cohort of potential eggs is normally larger, which is good for IVF because IVF works by getting more of that cohort to grow. So with IVF you are basically rescuing eggs that would never be used ordinarily. The number of periods is irrelevant. However, one think people with PCOS can struggle with is that more eggs does not necessarily mean better quality. In fact, often people with PCOS struggle with poor egg quality.

[Anonymous]

My friend with PCOS (and male factor) responded very well to IVF. Way above average number of collected and fertilized eggs. A couple of years younger than you, but at 31 it should be promising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How long have you been trying before IVF? I think women with PCOS have higher chances of getting pregnant later in adulthood period.

This was true for me. It took 2 IVF cycles to have my two kids, which left me with many embroys that arrested or were very poor quality. I became unexpectedly pregnant at age 36.

[Anonymous]

I have PCOS and husband has excellent sperm. At 31, I immediately got pregnant and had my first child on my first round of IVF but then a year later miscarried or didn’t work with the remaining 4 blastocysts (oh and one didn’t survive the thaw, so 1 miscarriage, 2 nothing and 1 didn’t thaw correctly). Did another round bc we had insurance coverage and miscarried twice (not due to embryo, due to uterine abnormalities which we then took care of) had an additional two babies and now have three blastocysts left. In other words, I responded really well but have had about a 40-50% “success rate” which I think is normal for embryos from early to mid-30s.

[Anonymous]

In general for IVF, PCOS means greater quantity but lesser quality eggs...so lower success rates overall. But it's possible to get lucky.

[Anonymous]

Everyone I know with pcos did IVF and it worked pretty easily.

[Anonymous]

Yes 19 years ago one IVF yielded ‘my 2 children (4 years apart). I couldn’t do IUI etc as egg yield was so high

[Anonymous]

Be a little careful – people with PCOS are prone to hyperstimulation, which I went through twice and which was absolutely no fun. I did get a truckload of eggs though. Only one live birth (and 4 mc) out of 8 transfers, but that’s probably due to uterine issues. Quality looked great but I wonder, since my only live birth was from my very worst embryo (2BB!)