Does every follicle contain an egg?
No. In fact, sometimes if the estradiol is very high it is difficult to see every follicle, so we may get many more eggs at the time of retrieval than number of follicles seen on ultrasound. Unfortunately, when the estradiol is low and only one or two follicles are present on ultrasound, there may not be an egg in the follicle. This is called empty follicle syndrome. We will prescan you prior to the egg retrieval if you have a small number of follicles present on ultrasound on the day of hCG.
