Answer from:
Actually I think there’s not much of a difference between these. Minimal stimulation try to actually use the minimal amount of gonadotropin which are the hormones that we use for the protocols of ovarian stimulation. Actually mini or micro would be something like the amount of medication that we’re gonna use which is of course the lowest that we can to actually get something from the ovary, I mean, for making it work. So we may not have a good response at the beginning and maybe we just have to modify the dose of gonadotropin in order to get the ovary to work and to give us at least one oocyte.
Answer from:
The minimal stimulation cycle, also sometimes called Mini IVF or Micro IVF, is a stimulation cycle where the dosage of the applied drugs of the FSH (follicle stimulating syndrome) is not as high as in the regular stimulation protocols. As far as the time frame goes, it’s pretty much similar to the typical stimulation because we need to respect the natural course of things. We need to start the process from the menstruation in either type of the stimulation and the application of the medications is usually started on day two – no matter if it’s a classic IVF cycle or the Minimal stimulation cycle. In the Minimal stimulation we usually start with anti-estrogen pills such as chromophil citrate or letrozole and then usually add some FSH injections further down the road in the process. The disadvantage to drawback might be a lower number of eggs obtained but it’s usually cheaper so, it’s more cost effective for the couple – that’s in many many cases the number one preference or the reason why the patients opt for the Mini IVF but there are some cases or even groups of patients such as patients in higher age and the poor responders where let’s say during the classic stimulation we only get less than six eggs and in that case the Minimal stimulation might actually be preferable. Once again the number of eggs obtained is a little lower but still it might give us a good chance for success at a lower cost overall.
Answer from:
There are different names given to a similar kind of treatment, some call it mini, some call it mild or micro. There might be a slight difference in the dosage. However they are more or less the same thing where we are giving slightly less medication than conventional IVF to give a push to the ovaries. Some groups would say those are the best available follicles that are activated or recruited by giving only mild stimulation. The time frame for whatever type of IVF we do, is similar. The time frame is based on the follicular development. Follicular development should be made as close as it can to the natural follicular development. In a natural cycle it will take up to 10 to 12 days depending on variability of the length of your cycle, for the follicle to cook the egg. The egg is sitting inside the follicle and it is cooking the egg and it takes a certain amount of time for this egg to be cooked properly and to be cooked well and mature well. When we are doing IVF and giving you IVF, trying to have these follicles growing, we want to try and mimic as close to the natural cycle as possible because we know, it’s like when you bake a cake. When you put a cake in the oven and increase the temperature it will cook faster, that does not work in this case. It has to be at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time for it to be cooked inside and out. In the same way, the egg has to be cooked for a certain amount of time so therefore, the time frame of the cycle will be around 11 to 13 (eggs are mature) and that’s when you get your trigger and around day 13, 14 or 15 is egg collection.
