By Dra. Paloma Baviera (Gynaecologist – Reg. No. 030310335).
A poor response is considered when, despite appropriate hormonal medication and monitoring, the number of follicles or oocytes obtained is lower than expected. At IVF-Life, it is generally defined as the retrieval of three or fewer oocytes in a conventional cycle.
It is important to distinguish poor ovarian response from diminished ovarian reserve. Ovarian reserve refers to the approximate number of eggs available in the ovaries, whereas ovarian response reflects how the ovaries react to medication during a specific cycle. A woman may have diminished ovarian reserve but respond better than expected, or have an adequate reserve and still retrieve few oocytes after stimulation.
Ovarian stimulation is one of the first steps in an assisted reproduction treatment and one of the most important when using a patient's own eggs. Its aim is to promote the simultaneous development of several follicles in order to obtain mature oocytes that can be used in techniques such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Sometimes the response to stimulation is not as expected. This results in a lower number of oocytes retrieved, but it does not necessarily mean that the treatment has failed or that pregnancy cannot be achieved.
Poor ovarian response can occur for a number of physiological, medical and individual reasons. The most common include:
Before treatment begins, several markers can help estimate the expected response and individualise the stimulation protocol:
There is no single solution suitable for every patient. The most appropriate approach depends on the woman's age, previous treatment outcomes, ovarian reserve, embryo quality and reproductive goals. Some of the most commonly used alternatives are:
Strategies according to patient profile:
Strategy | Common Indications | Advantages | Considerations |
Protocol adjustment | Suboptimal response in a previous cycle | May improve the number of oocytes retrieved | Depends on individual sensitivity |
Oocyte accumulation | Patients with consistently poor response | Increases the total number of oocytes available | Requires multiple cycles and planning |
Dual stimulation | Patients with limited time or advanced maternal age | Increases the number of oocytes within a single menstrual cycle | Requires closer medical monitoring and follow-up |
Natural IVF / Minimal stimulation | Poor response despite high medication doses | Lower hormonal exposure | Fewer oocytes retrieved per cycle |
Egg donation | Repeated failures or severe poor response | High chance of achieving pregnancy | Requires acceptance of donor eggs |
Not necessarily. A poor response reduces the number of available oocytes, but it does not by itself determine the success of treatment. Even a small number of oocytes may be enough to obtain good-quality embryos and achieve pregnancy.
Each cycle provides valuable information about how the ovaries respond, allowing the medical team to adjust strategies to maximise the chances of success. The goal is not always to retrieve a large number of oocytes, but rather those with the greatest reproductive potential through individualised monitoring and a treatment plan tailored to each patient.
World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen, 6th edition. WHO Press.
World Health Organization (WHO).
2021;
:
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240030787
European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
Guideline: Male infertility.
European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
2023;
:
https://www.eshre.eu/Guidelines-and-Legal/Guidelines/Male-infertility
American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)..
Evaluation of the infertile female and male: Committee Opinion..
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2020;
:
https://www.asrm.org/practice-guidance/practice-committee-documents/
Mortimer D.
Sperm preparation methods and selection for in vitro fertilization. Human Reproduction Update.
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1994;
:
https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/
Henkel R, Schill W.B.
Sperm preparation for ART. Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology.
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2003;
:
https://rbej.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1477-7827-1-108
Esteve de Miguel R.
Laboratory techniques in assisted reproduction.
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics.
2018;
:
https://link.springer.com/journal/10815
Privacy Policy
IVF-LIFE, hereby informs you of its privacy policy applied to personal data. The use of the website does not imply that the user must provide any information regarding their identity, and cannot be associated with a specific user by the company. In the event that personal data is provided, this data will be collected and used in accordance with the limitations and rights set out in the aforementioned regulation.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROCESSING OF YOUR DATA?
DATA CONTROLLER: IVF SPAIN ALICANTE S.L.U (hereinafter IVF-Life)
CIF: B-54973227
Postal Address: Avenida de Ansaldo, no. 13, 03540, Alicante (Alicante)
Contact with the Data Protection Officer: dpo@ivf-life-group.com
DATA CONTROLLER: Instituto Vasco de Fertilidad (hereinafter IVF-Life)
CIF: B95575874
Postal Address: Avenida de Tolosa, 71-73, 20018 Donostia / San Sebastián (Spain)
Contact with the Data Protection Officer: dpo@ivf-life-group.com
DATA CONTROLLER: IVF Spain Madrid (hereinafter IVF-Life)
CIF: B 85138113
Postal Address: C/ de Manuel de Falla, 6-8, 28036 Madrid (Spain)
Contact with the Data Protection Officer: dpo@ivf-life-group.com
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- Connection, geolocation and navigation data.
- Commercial information if you are subscribed to our newsletter.
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WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE DATA?
The use of certain services or requests addressed to IVF-LIFE are subject to the prior completion of the corresponding form. All the information provided by the User through the forms on the Portal for the above purposes or any other must be truthful.
To this end, the User guarantees the authenticity of all the data provided and will keep the information provided to IVF-LIFE perfectly up to date so that it corresponds at all times to the User's real situation. In any case, the User will be solely responsible for any false or inaccurate statements made and for any damage caused to IVF-LIFE or third parties because of the information provided.
By clicking on the "send" button on the corresponding form, the User expressly consents to his/her data being used to send professional communications about his/her query by e-mail or by any other means.
However, the User may revoke the consent given and oppose the sending of such communications in each of the communications received or by sending them to the address indicated in this legal notice and enabled for this purpose. Likewise, in each of the communications sent, the procedure for opposing the sending of new professional communications shall be expressly indicated.
Users who provide personal data of other natural persons are obliged to comply, in relation to said data, with all obligations deriving from the data protection regulations in force, and in particular the duty to inform and obtain the consent of the owner of the personal data.
When we request your personal data to provide access to certain website functionalities, we will mark the required fields to ensure the service can be delivered.
Please note that if you choose not to provide us with this data, you may not be able to complete your registration as a user or you may not be able to enjoy those services or functionalities.
For the processing of data, IVF-LIFE adopts the security levels required by current European and national legislation on the Protection of Personal Data. Notwithstanding the above, technical security in a medium such as the Internet is not impregnable and there may be leaks due to the malicious actions of third parties.
Our services are aimed at people of legal age, in the event that some of our services are specifically aimed at minors, IVF-LIFE will request the consent of parents or guardians for the collection of personal data or, where appropriate, for the automated processing of data as set out in current legislation. If the User is a minor, they are required to have the prior consent of their parents or guardians before proceeding to the inclusion of their personal data in the forms on the Website.
Initially, your personal data are provided directly by you, but in certain cases they may originate from centres, referring doctors and public health systems with which there is collaboration.
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Depending on how you interact with our website, we will process your personal data for the following purposes:
To deal with requests or requests that you make through the different means incorporated into our website.
We only process the personal data that is strictly necessary to manage or resolve your request or application.
For marketing purposes
To the extent that you subscribe to our newsletter, your personal data will be used for the periodic sending of company newsletters.
You should remember that you can unsubscribe from the newsletter, at any time and free of charge, by contacting us via the e-mail address of the data controller or by following the instructions that we will provide you with in each of our communications.
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If you follow us or contact us through the different social networks in which we are present, we will process the data that you provide to us through these for the sole purpose of responding to your messages or comments and managing our contact list.
Usability and quality analysis to improve our services (cookies).
If you access our platform, we inform you that we will process your browsing data for analytical and statistical purposes, i.e. to understand how users interact with our platform and thus be able to make improvements to it. Likewise, we sometimes carry out quality actions and surveys aimed at finding out the degree of satisfaction of our customers and users and detecting those areas in which we can improve.
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The legal basis that allows us to process your personal data also depends on the purpose for which we process them, so we will find different legal bases under the following purposes:
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The legal basis for the processing of your data is the informed consent to respond to queries raised through the website, forms and other means provided, which implies the prior reading and acceptance of these conditions by the interested party.
Marketing
The legitimate basis for processing your data for marketing purposes is the consent you provide.
Social networking
The basis of legitimacy is the informed consent to respond to queries raised through the social network, as well as the time when you follow us and want to be part of our contact list.
Usability and quality analysis (cookies)
User consent to the use of cookies.
HOW LONG WILL WE KEEP YOUR DATA?
Request for information. We will process your data for as long as it is necessary to deal with your request or request and thereafter 1 year.
Marketing
We will process your data until you unsubscribe or cancel your subscription to the newsletter.
Social media
We will process your data for as long as it is necessary to deal with your request and for as long as you are a follower of our profile.
WILL WE SHARE YOUR DATA WITH THIRD PARTIES?
Personal data will not be transferred or communicated to third parties, except: legal obligation, we obtain your express consent, or we understand that there is a legitimate interest on our part, which will be duly communicated to you.
However, we inform you that we are present in the following social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube, to keep our followers informed regarding the company's news and services.
You can access these social networks voluntarily and through the links available on the website itself or by accessing directly and on your own from your browser or installed app.
You should know that this website is not responsible for the use of the data that these social networks may make. However, when these data are generated in the social network and derive from an interaction with our website, we will not be held responsible for the use of such data.
In order to consent to our transfer from this website and the processing of your data, you should carefully read the privacy policy of the social network you wish to access:
Facebook: Facebook Privacy Policy
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Spotify: Spotify Privacy Policy
In this way, before clicking on the logos of the SS. RR. present on our website, you can inform yourself and make a redirection with prior knowledge of the processing of your data and on a voluntary basis.
Other technological services:
- WhatsApp: WhatsApp Privacy Policy
- Companies of the "IVF LIFE Group" on the legal basis of consent or legitimate interest: Instituto Vasco de Fertilidad S.L.U., with NIF B95575874 and address at Avda Tolosa, 71-73 Donostia (Gipuzkoa), and IVF Spain Madrid S.L., with NIF B85138113 and address at Calle Manuel de Falla, 6-8, 28036 Madrid.
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We undertake to respect the confidentiality of your personal data and to guarantee you the exercise of your rights.
You may exercise them free of charge by sending us an e-mail to our address above, simply by providing proof of identity, the reason for your request and the right you wish to exercise.
If we consider it necessary in order to identify you, we may ask you for a copy of a document proving your identity. In particular, regardless of the purpose or the legal basis on which we process your data, you have the right to:
Ask us for access to the data we hold about you.
Ask us to rectify the data we already hold about you. Please note that by actively providing us with your personal information in any way, you warrant that it is true and accurate and you undertake to notify us of any changes or modifications to it.
Ask us to delete your data to the extent that they are no longer necessary for the purpose for which we need to process them as we have previously informed you, or to the extent that we no longer have the legitimacy to do so.
Ask us to restrict the processing of your data, which means that in certain cases you may ask us to temporarily stop processing the data or to keep it longer than necessary when you may need it. If you have given us your consent to process your data for any purpose, you also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
To receive the personal data concerning you that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable form and to transfer it to another data controller.
Moreover, where the processing of your data is based on our legitimate interest, you also have the right to object to the processing of your data.
Finally, we inform you of your right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority, with the Spanish Data Protection Agency.
CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY
We may change the information contained in this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we do so, we will notify you by various means through the Platform, or we will notify you at your email address when the change in question is significant to your privacy, so that you can review the changes, assess them and, where appropriate, object to or unsubscribe from any service or functionality.
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