Why did my embryos not implant?

Patients want to know the reason(s) why their IVF cycle failed and the most common answer they get from doctors is “implantation failure”. However, patients should never get satisfied with such an answer because it is a meaningless term that could have numerous interpretation:

Did embryo development arrest in the uterus ?
Did the blastocyst fail to hatch from the zona ?
Did the endometrium fail to produce the right chemical signals to allow embryo attachment?
Was the uterine blood supply inadequate for nourishment ; or 

Was there a genetic problem with the embryo ?

The term “implantation failure” is just medical jargon - a wastepaper basket diagnosis, that does not explain the exact cause of failure of an IVF cycle. The reason for this is that today's medical technology is unable to determine what happens to an embryo upon its transfer to the uterus. At an IVF clinic, we are only able to study :

the quality of the embryo before we transfer it;

the ease of the transfer procedure ; and 

the uterine lining.

We cannot track its fate after we have transferred in into the uterus.

However, patients should not lose hope just because an IVF cycles fails. They should also not be misled into carrying out a large number of expensive tests that will only serve to cost them more money and time and lead to even more frustration , mismanagement and complaints. 

Instead, they must realise that the human reproductive system is dynamic ; and that the failure of the first IVF cycle does not mean subsequent cycles will also fail.