What are the dangers of egg retrieval?

The number of eggs that each woman's uterus can produce is limited, so if one is taken out, there will be one less. Moreover, the egg retrieval process will damage the woman's uterus and ovaries. It may also cause physical weakness, like that which a woman experiences right after giving birth. Therefore, the chances of women being able to conceive after their eggs are retrieved will be greatly reduced. Next, let me tell you about the dangers of egg retrieval.

Egg retrieval generally does not cause any major harm to the body, and does not cause the vagina to dilate. Simply using a long needle to enter the abdominal cavity through the posterior fornix may damage the organs around the brain and ovaries, or cause infection and bleeding.

The production of eggs in women is clinically called controlled superovulation, which takes 10-15 days. In a healthy woman, generally only one (sometimes more than one, i.e. fraternal twins) dominant follicle develops during her natural ovulation cycle. The egg in this dominant follicle matures and ovulates, and can only form an embryo after fertilization.

Generally, natural ovulation only results in one egg, and if this one egg is used for in vitro fertilization, at most only one embryo can be produced. There is no choice at the time of embryo transfer. The pregnancy rate after transferring one embryo is very low. Sometimes, this egg may not be fertilized or develop, and there is no chance of pregnancy.

Egg retrieval is a minor surgery that can be performed under general or local anesthesia. Under the guidance of a vaginal ultrasound device, the egg retrieval needle is passed through the vagina and directly into the ovary to absorb the eggs. Then, the laboratory staff immediately transfers the absorbed eggs to a culture dish containing embryo culture medium under a microscope and places it in an incubator at 37°C for culture.

Egg retrieval is performed within 35-36 hours of human chorionic gonadotropin injection. Retrieving eggs too early or too late will affect the egg retrieval rate and the quality of the retrieved eggs. Doing it too early may cause the eggs to not fully mature, resulting in a large number of immature eggs, while doing it too late may cause some large follicles to ovulate, making it impossible to retrieve eggs.

The egg retrieval process usually takes less than 30 minutes. After the egg retrieval procedure is completed, the doctor will take out the frozen or fresh semen, fertilize it, and implant it into the body of the woman who wants to become pregnant, and it will eventually mature in the mother's uterus. After egg retrieval, the patient will only experience slight pain and very little bleeding. He or she can go home after resting for 1-2 hours, and it will not affect his or her daily work and life.