- MEDICINE ATHENS MED4WOMAN ATHENS
- MEDICINE VOLOS MED4WOMAN VOLOS
- 2103390838
- 2421022988
Obstetrician Gynaecologist
Doctor of Medicine, University of Athens Medical School
Panagiotis Polyzos, Gynaecologist Obstetrician, is active at the Institute of Life - IVF Unit of Iaso Maternity Hospital.
Many women facing fertility problems — even though having a child is a lifelong dream — often feel discouraged by the procedures or the cost associated with conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Mini IVF is the newest fertility treatment for women who prefer a more natural approach to addressing infertility and wish to limit the amount of medication they receive.
The amount of drugs used in Mini IVF is significantly less than needed in conventional IVF. This minimizes the amount of hormones a woman receives in her body and helps keep the financial costs low while providing high success rates.
With Mini IVF, the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is avoided in up to 99% of cases, and either no injections are needed or only very few (3–4) are required.
Mini IVF is an excellent option that bridges the gap between natural cycle IVF and traditional IVF. In a natural cycle IVF, there is no ovarian stimulation (no medication is given), and typically only 1–2 eggs are retrieved, which may or may not result in an embryo after fertilization.
Traditional IVF, on the other hand, uses high doses of gonadotropins to ensure that as many eggs as possible are retrieved. Compared to these two approaches, Mini IVF yields an average of 3–6 eggs and can produce 1–4 embryos, increasing the chances of having at least one healthy embryo available for transfer.
Many women with normal ovarian function prefer to take fewer medications and do not wish to retrieve a large number of eggs in a single cycle. In this group, birth control pills are not administered, and gonadotropin medications are started later in the cycle than in conventional IVF. Ovulation is prevented using a GnRH antagonist. Both medications are given as daily injections, with a shorter overall treatment duration compared to traditional IVF. As a result, fewer monitoring visits (ultrasounds and blood tests) are required.
Additionally, the risk of hyperstimulation is lower. Fewer eggs are retrieved, which is the intended goal of this approach. However, the quality of both the eggs and embryos is typically very good. With fewer embryos available for selection and transfer, pregnancy rates may be lower compared to standard IVF. Still, for women who wish to take fewer medications per cycle and are willing to undergo multiple IVF cycles to achieve pregnancy, Mini IVF offers that opportunity.
In many women, the body does not fully respond to stimulation medications. They typically have low ovarian reserve and may present with a disrupted hormonal profile (FSH levels above 12). For these women, treatment involves taking oral medication for a few days, followed by low-dose gonadotropin injections along with a GnRH antagonist to prevent ovulation. Typically, 3 to 4 mature eggs are retrieved — a result similar to what would be expected with high-dose injectable stimulation.
However, the patient should be prepared for the possibility of cycle cancellation if mature follicles do not develop.
This approach also requires less frequent monitoring (usually two to three ultrasounds and blood tests) compared with a high-dose stimulation protocol. If two embryos are deemed suitable for transfer, pregnancy success rates have been shown to be comparable to those of higher-dose stimulation treatments in these women.
The decision to choose Mini IVF depends on each woman’s preference, medical condition, and hormone levels. In selected patient groups (under 35 years old, with normal ovarian reserve), pregnancy success rates with Mini IVF are excellent.
Women of all reproductive ages with diminished ovarian reserve often produce fewer eggs regardless of stimulation dosage and can benefit from Mini IVF. Additionally, some women over the age of 40, who previously produced poor-quality embryos through conventional IVF, have seen improvements with Mini IVF.
In Mini IVF, low-dose oral medications are administered for a few days to stimulate follicular development and support egg production. Ultrasound scans combined with blood tests are required every 3–5 days to monitor the proper growth of the follicles.
Once follicular maturation is deemed adequate, a human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injection is given, and approximately 36–38 hours later, egg retrieval takes place. This is followed by fertilization of the eggs in the laboratory and subsequently embryo transfer. After a period of 12–14 days, a blood test measuring β-hCG levels is performed to confirm whether pregnancy has been achieved.
Mini IVF is considered an excellent option for women who may have fewer eggs, a likelihood often associated with advanced reproductive age (35+). According to recent studies, success rates for Mini IVF are three times higher in women over 35 and twice as high in women over 40, compared with conventional in vitro fertilization.
Overall, Mini IVF demonstrates relatively high success rates, reaching approximately 30–35% per embryo transfer.
Η Mini IVF is a more natural fertility treatment that uses significantly fewer medications compared to conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF). With this method, women undergo fewer injections and minimal use of gonadotropins.
The advantages of Mini IVF include the production of high-quality eggs, personalized treatment, reduced medication burden, and suitability for women with low ovarian reserve. This approach decreases hormone exposure and requires minimal or no injections. It may be especially appropriate for women who do not respond well to conventional IVF.
Mini IVF has relatively high success rates, reaching approximately 30–35% per embryo transfer, with even higher success rates observed in women over the age of 35.
