Endometrial receptivity analysis (ERA) is a way of finding out when the lining of the womb – known as the endometrium – is most receptive. This helps us to decide a time for your embryo transfer that’s most likely to result in success.

Embryo transfer is one of the most important stages of your IVF treatment. Sometimes, though, the embryo won’t implant, and this could be because of a problem with the endometrium.

If we think this could be an issue for you, we might suggest endometrial receptivity analysis. If you’re still unsure whether it might be an option, talk to your local clinic or contact us for support.

We can carry out ERA testing either during your natural cycle, or during a cycle prompted by medication.

During the test, which is similar to a smear, we’ll take a biopsy of the womb lining then analyse the tissue to determine when your endometrium will be most receptive – we call this the window of implantation. We can then use these findings to determine the timing of your embryo transfer, which could increase the chance of successful implantation.

ERA (endometrial receptivity analysis)                                                             R18500,00–R20700,00

Hormone screening and testing can give us an indication of everything from how many eggs you’re able to produce, to whether you might have an underlying medical condition – and all of this information will help us to give you the right fertility treatment.

If you’re a new patient or suffering from unexplained fertility problems we’re likely to suggest hormone screening, as it can really help us to better understand your needs.

In women, we can use hormone screening to explore possible causes of irregular cycles and check your ovarian reserves, which helps us to understand how many eggs you might be able to produce during treatment. In men, particular hormones can be good indicators of how much sperm you’re able to produce.

Almost all hormone screenings involve a simple blood test. Depending on what we’re looking to find out, there are a number of things we might be checking for.

Ovarian reserve
To get an indication of your ovarian reserves, we’ll analyse your levels of antimullerian hormone (AMH) and/or do an antral follicle count (AFC), which involves a simple ultrasound scan. We might also look at your levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) as a measure of ovarian reserve.

Irregular cycles
There are lots of reasons why your cycle might be a little irregular, and it could be caused by hormones. We can check for prolactin, androgens, and thyroxine – which is produced by the thyroid – to see whether they could be part of the problem.

The pre-treatment pelvic ultrasound helps us to plan your treatment.
This type of ultrasound, also known as a 3D trans-vaginal pelvic ultrasound scan, helps us to get a much clearer picture of your womb, ovaries, and pelvis. We also use it to check the quality of your womb lining – the endometrium – and to calculate the dosage of drugs you might need for IVF treatment.

Taking a closer look at your womb, ovaries, and pelvis allows us to look for any problems or conditions as well as decide how much medication you might need to produce the right number of eggs for treatment.

There’s a lot we can find out using a pre-treatment ultrasound scan, so we’re likely to recommend it to most patients considering IVF or ICSI.

Ultrasound is an imaging technique that uses high frequency sound waves to get pictures of the inside of the body without using X-rays. For this type of ultrasound scan we use a specially designed ultrasound probe, which is gently inserted into the vagina in a safe, short, and painless procedure. We then move the ultrasound probe into different positions to clearly visualise the uterus and ovaries.

By doing a trans-vaginal scan, we’re able to get the probe closer to the pelvic organs to get a better picture – meaning we can get a much better idea of your needs.

There can be many reasons behind recurrent miscarriages or implantation failures.
If you’ve experienced a miscarriage or implantation failure, we can carry out tests to identify issues with your hormones, blood clotting, immune system or genetics. Depending on what we discover, we can offer you different treatments to then increase your chances of successful implantation.

If you’ve experienced more than one miscarriage, or if you’ve been through two or more unsuccessful IVF treatments, we may recommend recurrent implantation failure screening.
There are a number of tests we can use to try and understand the cause or causes of failed implantations, and which we use will depend on our understanding of what we suspect could be the problem. When we have your results we should then be able to offer some additional procedures that could help to improve your chances.

During the last ten years we’ve done a lot of work to try and identify reasons for IVF failure and miscarriage.

Chromosomal problems in the embryos seem to be a major factor, and to see whether this could be the issue for you we might suggest pre-implantation genetic screening, which helps us to choose embryos with the right number of chromosomes for implantation.

Aside from chromosomal abnormalities, other causes of failed implantation relate to problems with the woman’s hormones, blood clotting or immune system, all of which can prevent embryos from implanting properly. It’s these kinds of problems that we check for during recurrent implantation failure screening.

There are a number of techniques and tests we can use to see why you might be struggling. Some key tests might include:

Immune screening
By screening for particular antibodies and autoantibodies, we can get an insight into whether your immune system could be preventing embryos from implanting properly.

C4M2 testing
C4M2 is the name of a gene mutation that can be carried by both men and women, and if passed to an embryo it can cause both failed implantation and miscarriage. Our pioneering scientists were the first in the world to discover that this can be treated with heparin.