Zero fertilisation. Egg or sperm issue?

From what I know from our team and going through the process the last few years it can be either but it’s more commonly sperm quality with zero fertilization and more commonly egg quality if you have a low amount make it to blast

hmm.. usually when ICSI route is needed is a sperm issue. If I were in your position I would take another opinion from another fertility center if it's possible.i don't know but they have to know from which side the issue came or if it's from both sides just an example. You can take your exams to another center for consultantion and check your options.

For the sperm testing did they also do the DNA fragmentation testing? I’m assuming they would before doing IVF, but I thought I’d ask as I know some where that wasn’t done and it could be a reason for the low fertilization.

We had the same issue. From 12 egg retrieval, only one fertilize and after 8 cells didnt grow more. They didnt say anything just said it’s unusual. Maybe sperm or eggs maybe both. They just guessing. They dont say why. They used even ICSI for us. But my husband sperm count was low around 1 millions. They said also for next round ivf they will use another medication and use calcium blocker. I changed my clinic and its same. He said othet clinic used too much medications. And they should used calcium blocker from beginning not after one day because doesn’t work this way. Its sad they cant tell whats going on. They want to keep testing testing and get money.

We have experienced low fertilisation in both rounds, approx 40% fertilising. Our only known issue is male factor so we were already doing ICSI. All made it to blast which I think is maybe a sign the egg quality is good. We had a DNA fragmentation & oxidative stress test on the sperm & we got interesting results - DNA was very good but OS was high. We also did infection testing (micro biome) & found I had a high level of one nasty bacteria which is linked to OS in the sperm. We have both done antibiotics & probiotics & about to start our third round hoping this has much improved the sperm quality … it’s pretty new area of research but I think there must be significance to it so could be worth further testing (clinics are terrible at looking further in to sperm quality / acknowledging the impact and just suggest ICSI as a fix). It’s so frustrating

So sorry this happened to you. I have just found your post as I have just had the same thing happen. We had 13 eggs collected yesterday and the doctor and embryologist were so positive. Sperm quality was excellent so they used conventional IVF and we left thinking about a good outcome because she said it was only 1% chance none would fertilise. However today we have been told that none of them fertilised. Sperm had survived well and were still moving but none had even bonded to the eggs. They are speculating (similar to you) that there is likely an issue where the eggs are preventing the sperm from penetrating and that for future attempts they would use ICSI. I was just wondering if you'd had any more info or knew anything else? Thanks.

Hey ladies, We had the same recently, apart from 1 of my 9 mature eggs fertilised on day 2, slowly divided but didn’t make it past 8 cells before fragmenting. We were told the same that binding was the issue and it’s uncommon. We have been advised to look into a PLCZeta protein in the sperm (not sure what the test is for this?!) and then having Artificial Oocyte Activation (AOA) in our next cycle. 100% will also use ICSI. Any other advice or suggestions welcome from others who have experienced the same. Useful (but unfortunate for us all) thread 🙃

We're in a similar boat. None of our 16 fertilised this week, we thought we were using ICSI all along but the lab on the day made the call to use conventional ivf and none fertilitised, We're beyond gutted cos no one told us they would make a call on the day to use ivf even though we paid for icsi in advance.

Sorry to hear about both of your experiences as well. It really is heartbreaking. I will look into those things as well, thank you.

@J what is conventional ivf?

Neda it means not using ICSI so letting the sperm fertilise the eggs naturally in the dish