Is there a big difference in the cost of frozen embryos and blastocysts of test tube babies?
IVF is a kind of assisted reproductive technology, which helps couples who cannot conceive naturally realize their reproductive dreams through in vitro fertilization. In the process of IVF, the most commonly used method of embryo freezing is to freeze blastocysts and frozen embryos of embryos. So, how big is the difference between the cost of IVF frozen embryos and blastocysts?
1. Embryo culture fee
Embryo culture is one of the most important steps in the process of IVF. In the process of culture, blastocysts and frozen embryos are cultured in different ways, so the corresponding costs are also different. Generally speaking, the cost of blastocyst culture is relatively high. In some hospitals, blastocyst culture usually requires an additional cost of several thousand to ten thousand yuan.
However, for frozen embryos, the culture time is usually short, so the culture cost is relatively low. Some hospitals may have included the culture cost of frozen embryos in the whole IVF package.
In addition to the culture costs of blastocysts and frozen embryos, couples also need to pay other costs in the process of IVF, such as drug costs, egg retrieval costs, etc. There was no significant difference in these costs between blastocysts and frozen embryos.
2. Storage and storage costs
Frozen blastocysts and frozen embryos are common choices in IVF. The advantage of blastocyst cryopreservation is that genetic testing can be carried out from embryo development to blastocyst stage to reduce the transfer of embryos with chromosome abnormalities and improve the success rate of pregnancy. At the same time, embryo freezing can also delay the transfer time and provide a more flexible treatment scheme.
However, the storage cost of frozen blastocysts is high. Due to the higher requirements of equipment and technology for blastocyst freezing, the storage cost is often higher than that of frozen embryos. The cost of frozen embryo storage provided by some hospitals generally ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan per year.
3. Transplantation cost and success rate
IVF transplantation is the last and most important step in the process of IVF. The transfer costs of blastocysts and frozen embryos may not be significantly different in some hospitals, and the costs of both are roughly 10000 to 20000 yuan.
However, there are differences in the success rate of transfer between blastocysts and frozen embryos. Because the blastocyst has been cultured for a period of time, it carries out genetic testing before transplantation and selects embryos with normal chromosomes for transplantation, so the success rate of blastocyst transplantation is usually high. The success rate of frozen embryo transfer is usually low, because not all frozen embryos can be thawed and developed successfully.
4. Treatment cycle and total cost
IVF treatment usually requires multiple cycles to succeed. Couples may need to freeze and store embryos in each cycle and hope to use them again in subsequent cycles. In this case, the costs of blastocysts and frozen embryos may vary.
In general, the cost difference of IVF frozen embryos and blastocysts is mainly reflected in the embryo culture cost, storage cost and transfer success rate. The culture cost of blastocysts is relatively high, and the storage cost of frozen blastocysts is also high. At the same time, the transfer success rate of blastocysts is relatively high, but the transfer success rate of frozen embryos is low. The choice of the method depends mainly on personal conditions and doctor's suggestions.
To sum up, the cost difference between IVF frozen embryos and blastocysts mainly lies in the success rate of embryo culture, storage and transfer, and is also affected by hospital and individual conditions. Couples should make decisions according to their own economic conditions and treatment expectations when choosing embryo freezing methods.
