What are the side effects, risks and potential complications

​Side effects such as headaches, mood swings, breast tenderness, abdominal bloating and nausea are physiological responses to stimulation of the ovaries. Some patients will not experience any side effects but for those that do, usually the symptoms are mild and will resolve within a few days after egg collection.

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Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)

OHSS is an exaggerated response to IVF medications, whereby you produce too many eggs and/or have very high oestradiol levels. In this instance, your ovaries are enlarged and you retain fluid. You may feel bloated, have pelvic pain and nausea. For mild cases, the fluid reabsorbs and you will be back to your normal self in 2 weeks.

Significant OHSS occurs in about 1% of cases.

• Preliminary tests before treatment can help stratify the risk in order for a sound treatment plan to be implemented to minimise the risk of occurrence.
• In less than 0.5% of cases, ovarian torsion or deep venous thrombosis can occur resulting in hospitalisation.
• To prevent complications, a prudent strategy is to freeze the embryos and postpone the embryo transfer to allow time for the symptoms to resolve. This decision will be made prior to egg collection.

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Egg collection

As with all procedures, there is a certain level of risks attached to procedures, though the chances of complications such as significant bleeding, infection or injury to bladder or bowel from egg collection is very low.

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Health of IVF babies

The health of singleton IVF babies are similar to singleton non-IVF babies. Inherent characteristics of the couple, such as their age, reasons for infertility, medical history, body weight and lifestyle choices can risk undesirable outcomes for baby and mother. Dr Fong will work with you to optimise your health before starting treatment.

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Ectopic pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancies (where the foetus attaches outside the uterus) can occur in both natural conception and IVF. Factors that increase this risk include smoking, tubal problems and past ectopic pregnancies. An ultrasound at six weeks (if there is a history of ectopic pregnancy) can detect the location of the pregnancy and prompt early intervention in these situations.

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Risk of multiple pregnancies

It is good practice to transfer one healthy looking embryo and to freeze any remaining good quality embryos. The formation of twins or triplets from IVF is usually from the transfer of more than one embryo.

​Multiple pregnancies pose unnecessary medical risks to the mother and the foetuses as babies conceived as a multiple pregnancy face higher risk of:

• Premature birth with associated prolonged neonatal intensive care stay and serious lifelong health problems.
• Cerebral palsy is 7 times more likely in twins
• Growth restriction
• Intrauterine death or stillbirth

The main risks of multiple pregnancies to the mother include diabetes in pregnancy, pre-eclampsia (accelerated high blood pressure in pregnancy), caesarean section and complicated birth.

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Risk of poor outcome

Despite our best intentions, treatment can result in:

• no eggs collected
• unsuccessful fertilisation
• embryos not suitable for transfer

QUICK LINKS TO UNDERSTANDING IVF

INDICATIONS
How IVF can help you

​IVF PROCESS
From injections to pregnancy

EMBRYO SELECTION
​How embryos are graded