Is There Something About IVF That Doesn't Work for Latinas?

If you're a fertility specialist in a metropolitan area of the United States, you likely have patients who identify as Latinas. Or you may not, given the cultural stigma and myths that keep many Hispanic women and couples from even inquiring about fertility treatment. If you're listening closely to your community, you've probably heard something along these lines:

We've been trying to get pregnant for a long time with no luck. I think we're doing everything "right" and I'm worried we have a problem that needs treatment. But friends have told me that IVF and other fertility treatments don't work as well for Latinas as it does for other groups. Is that true? Why would that be the case?

Sonja Kristiansen, Medical Director of Houston Fertility Center responds:

In central Houston, where I've operated a fertility center for more than a decade, my staff and I have made special efforts to reach out to the community around us. Many of HFC's staff are Latinas, and they've heard a lot of myths in their own families about fertility treatment. The other day, I was really glad to hear some positive news coming from a colleague in San Antonio, Dr. Robert Brzyski, that lays to rest one of those myths.

Dr. Brzyski did a study of his clinic's IVF patients and found no difference in success rates between Hispanic and non-Hispanic anglo women who used IVF to get pregnant. He also found that more of the Latinas -- nearly all of whom were Mexican-American -- miscarried, which is a point of concern. But overall rates of success were equal.

There may be differences between ethnic groups in how certain fertility treatments work or not. If significant differences between groups is found, it's possible that the causes are more related to culturally-influenced daily living activities and not genetics. But I've learned from my own diverse patient group that the most important influencing factors are based on the individual, her health, her lifestyle choices (like diet and smoking and exercise), and not on ethnicity, race, culture or any other group demographics.

If you've heard otherwise -- like from friends that IVF doesn't work for Latinas -- then it's very likely they're basing their opinions on a few anecdotes, stories that they've heard through the grapevine themselves, and not on actual research.

~ Sonja Kristiansen, MD

How Many Eggs Does It Take To Get Pregnant?

This is a question that fertility specialists are asked, often by patients with worries about their upcoming IVF cycle:


I know that I'll be using ovulation medication to help my ovaries make more eggs. How many eggs is enough for one IVF cycle?


Sonja Kristiansen, Medical Director of Houston Fertility Center responds:


Healthy ovaries are accustomed to ovulating one egg at a time; in some instances, two, but that doesn't mean both eggs will be fertilized.

IVF is a bit of a numbers game, and it only makes sense that the more egg and sperm cells you can put together in petri dishes, the greater the chances of winding up with several high-quality embryos. Then, of course, how many embryos we transfer to your uterus depends on several variables. But for now, let's stick with the question: how many eggs is enough?

A recent study got a lot of attention for concluding that 15 is the "magic number" when it comes to eggs used in an IVF cycle. The researchers also said that more eggs than that increased the women's odds for OHSS, or ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (essentially, over-worked ovaries that result in symptoms that are uncomfortable at least and require hospitalization at worst.)

It's interesting research, but it's not that useful on a patient-to-patient basis. We don't need each and every woman who's going through IVF to produce 15 eggs in order to achieve a healthy pregnancy and live birth. Ask around a little and you'll find stories of women whose ovaries churned out 20 or more eggs, with no OHSS and no resulting pregnancy. On the other end of things, you can hear plenty of women who produced a handful of eggs, resulting in a handful of embryos, and ending with a baby in their arms.


So while it's handy to have a nice, neat number to aim at, chances are good you won't find me or my colleagues calling off your stimulated cycle because there are only 5 or 10 eggs in there -- not for that reason alone. If there are other factors at play in a cycle -- for some other reason your health is at risk -- cancelling a cycle may be the best thing to do. But never just because your ovaries didn't hit the magic number!

~ Sonja Kristiansen, MD

Are There Egg Banks For Infertility Patients?

Not frequently asked, but still it's a question that may become more commonly heard in fertility clinics:

Are there egg banks, similar to sperm banks, that we can use to select donors for our IVF?

Sonja Kristiansen, Medical Director of Houston Fertility Center responds:


Sperm banks have been around for decades now. The existence of these third-party reproductive agencies has made accessing male gametes very convenient for fertility patients. So far, the idea of egg banks is still too new for the same circumstance to be the case. That's because the development of egg freezing technology has been more challenging than sperm cryopreservation.

But egg cryo has come a very long way in the last few years. In fact, I recently blogged about a study that showed pregnancy results were nearly the same regardless of whether fertility patients used fresh or frozen donor eggs. Besides being good news for patients, another possible outcome from this study's conclusions is the growth of egg banking.

What's so good about egg banking? The availability of frozen eggs will likely result in less expensive IVF procedures for many patients.

For now, the primary way to go about it, if you need to use a donor's eggs to conceive, is to use your fertility specialist's connections either directly to egg donors or to agencies that specialize in egg donor screening and selection. It seems a little more cumbersome than using an egg bank, but it's the standard until more growth in those services is seen.

~ Sonja Kristiansen, MD

How Many IVF's Does It Take?

Here's an FAQ that a lot of fertility specialists hear:

How many IVF's will I have to go through before I have a baby?

Sonja Kristiansen, Medical Director of Houston Fertility Center responds:

Virtually nobody wants to resort to fertility treatment to have a baby! But if you find yourself in my office, you've likely already come to the conclusion that this is where you need to be to achieve your dream.

So your next question -- "How much of this fertility treatment do I have to endure?!" -- is understandable.

We cannot tell any patient at her first consultation exactly how many fertility treatment cycles she'll go through before she has a baby. In fact, we may not even be able to tell a brand-new patient if IVF is the final answer for her.

I just wrote a blogpost about the success rates (and risks) of IVF, and how success seems to come more often to women who manage to go through the procedure three times or more.

I know, it's not what you want to hear, especially at your first appointment. But remember -- those are statistics, which are mathematical versions of everyday life. Just because statistically your chances of a baby are greater with three or more IVF's, that's not necessarily a fact of life for you and your situation.

Everyone's body and medical history is different. Your causes of infertility, how your body responds to medications... many factors add up to fertility with or without treatment. So while I may not be able to answer the question of "How many IVF's" here on the Internet in a way that will be meaningful to any individual, I can certainly focus in on a good estimate once you and I have run a few diagnostic tests and gone over your personal health history.

~ Sonja Kristiansen, MD