Window of Opportunity

The attachment of a newly fertilized egg to the lining of the uterus is the most unobserved step of pregnancy. To gain better understanding of this crucial step in early pregnancy, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studied 221 women who were trying to conceive. They found that, in most successful cases, implantation occurred 8 to 10 days after the women ovulated, when a mature egg is released from an ovary. Of the women studied, 82% experienced early failures when implantation occurred more than 11 days after ovulation. This failure rate was significantly higher than when eggs attached on the 11th day (52%) and more than three times as great as when they attached on the 10th day (26%).

This indicates that the "window of implantation" is wide-open only for about two days, then gradually closes, and the embryo either does not implant or implantation is less than adequate resulting in the early pregnancy loss.

These studies give doctors a better understanding of some of the causes of miscarriages and the ability to better help couples who suffer early pregnancy losses. I hope this, the first of a series of biweekly columns, and those that will follow, will prove informative. Our medical practice is devoted to female reproductive health (endocrinology), infertility, and assisted reproductive technology (ART) and we perform in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer (IVF/ET) in our office. During the IVF-ET cycles, we actually place embryos in the uterus when the "window of opportunity" is open. Many women with infertility or recurrent early pregnancy losses have late ovulation and/or delayed implantation. In such cases, egg development, ovulation, fertilization, and implantation can be easily synchronized to fall within the "window of opportunity" – resulting in a normal, healthy pregnancy. OAK BROOK FERTILITY CENTER – "Where dreams are conceived and hopes delivered". New patients are welcome.

P.S. Researchers found that when the fertilized egg implanted itself in the uterus through the 9th day after ovulation, the rate of early pregnancy loss was only 13%.

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