For some women, a stimulated IVF cycle may be inappropriate for a variety of different reasons. This could be due:

• A medical condition that is a contraindication to controlled ovarian stimulation (History of DVT or estrogen receptor positive breast Ca)
• Advanced maternal age or poor ovarian reserve which is often associated with low egg quality. In these cases an aggressive stimulation protocol is more likely to produce a suboptimal outcome.
• Patient choice to avoid medicated protocols or other reasons.

For these women, IVF without stimulation or with minimal stimulation may actually be the best option.  The patient’s own hormones are used to mature the eggs and egg collection is carried out to retrieve 1-3 eggs that would otherwise ovulate spontaneously.  IVF/ICSI/IMSI fertilization and subsequent embryo transfer is carried out in the same way as with conventional IVF.