The Right Cycle Structure for Every Reciprocal IVF (ROPA) Scenario in CARTR Plus

Reciprocal IVF, also called reception of oocytes from partner (ROPA), breaks the assumption that sits under most CARTR Plus data entry: that the person who stimulates and provides the eggs is the same person whose cycle you are recording. In ROPA they are two different people. One partner provides the oocytes through stimulation and retrieval, the eggs are fertilized, usually with donor sperm, and the embryos are transferred to the other partner, who carries the pregnancy.

That split is the whole challenge. Structure it correctly and every ROPA journey reconciles cleanly. Structure it wrong and the transfer ends up attached to the wrong person, or with no valid cycle to attach to at all. There are three variations, and the correct structure for each follows one principle.

The principle that governs all three

In CARTR Plus, the cycle belongs to the intended parent, meaning the partner who carries or intends to carry the pregnancy. Everything else follows from that:

• Every treatment cycle is entered for the intended parent, not for the partner who provided the eggs.
• The stimulation and retrieval details recorded in that cycle may belong to the other partner, the one who actually provided the oocytes.
• Oocyte origin is set to fresh partner oocytes.
• CARTR Plus cannot link treatment cycles between two different patients. So the partner who may carry a pregnancy must have their own primary IVF cycle, even when the embryos came from the other partner.

That last point is the one that catches people, and it is what makes the three scenarios below look different on the surface while following the same rule underneath.

Scenario 1: Fresh reciprocal IVF

Partner A provides the oocytes and Partner B carries the pregnancy in the same treatment cycle.

Create a single IVF primary cycle for Partner B and record the whole journey inside it:

• Partner A's stimulation and retrieval details, entered in Partner B's cycle.
• Oocyte origin as fresh partner oocytes.
• Insemination and embryology.
• The fresh embryo transfer.
• Adverse events if any occurred, otherwise None or No.

One cycle, owned by the partner who carries, holding the other partner's retrieval and the transfer. Nothing links across two patients because the whole journey lives in Partner B's cycle.

Scenario 2: Frozen embryos transferred later

Partner A provides the oocytes, but the embryos are frozen and Partner B carries later.

Start the same way, with an IVF primary cycle for Partner B:

• Partner A's stimulation and retrieval details, in Partner B's cycle.
• Oocyte origin as fresh partner oocytes.
• Insemination and embryology.
• No embryo transfer, because none happens in this cycle.

When Partner B returns to use the frozen embryos, create a FET cycle linked to Partner B's IVF cycle and record the transfer there. The IVF cycle establishes the primary, the FET links back to it, and both belong to the same intended parent.

Scenario 3: Partner B carries embryos from Partner A's earlier IVF

This is the one that looks impossible at first. Partner A previously went through IVF on their own, embryos were created and cryopreserved, and only later does the couple decide that Partner B will carry using those embryos.

The embryos already exist under Partner A's treatment. But CARTR Plus cannot link Partner B's transfer to Partner A's cycle, because they are two different patients. So you build Partner B a cycle of their own:

1. Create a new IVF primary cycle for Partner B. Record Partner A's stimulation and retrieval details in it, set oocyte origin to fresh partner oocytes, and record the insemination and embryology information from the existing embryos. No embryo transfer is performed in this cycle. Its job is to establish the primary cycle that belongs to Partner B.
2. Create a FET cycle linked to Partner B's new IVF cycle, and record the frozen embryo transfer there.

The new IVF cycle carries no transfer of its own. It exists so the FET has a valid primary cycle to link to, under the right intended parent.

The three at a glance

In all three, the primary IVF cycle belongs to the partner who carries, and every transfer links back to that partner's own cycle.

The mistake BORN sees most

The recurring error is trying to make CARTR Plus do something it cannot: link a transfer or a journey across two patients. In practice it shows up as recording the cycle under Partner A, because A is the one who had the retrieval, or attaching Partner B's frozen embryo transfer directly to Partner A's IVF cycle, or skipping the step of giving Partner B their own primary cycle in scenario 3.

Any of these leaves the pregnancy and outcome attributed to the wrong parent, or leaves the transfer with no valid primary to link to. The record does not reflect who actually carried, and it gets flagged.

The correction is always the same. Whoever carries gets the primary IVF cycle. The other partner's retrieval goes inside that cycle. Transfers link back to it.

How EmbryoLogix catches it before submission

EmbryoLogix reads the journey as a whole rather than checking fields one at a time, which is what a two-patient scenario like ROPA needs. When it prepares a CARTR Plus file, it confirms that the primary IVF cycle sits with the intended parent who carries, that oocyte origin is set to fresh partner oocytes, and that every FET links back to that same parent's IVF cycle rather than to the oocyte provider's. In scenario 3, it checks that a primary IVF cycle exists for the carrying partner before a frozen transfer is attached, so the transfer is never left orphaned. Anything that would cross two patients or misattribute the carry is flagged in review, before the file goes to BORN.

The quick version

• The cycle belongs to whoever carries. Record the other partner's stimulation and retrieval inside that cycle, with oocyte origin as fresh partner oocytes.
• Fresh ROPA: one IVF cycle for the carrying partner, transfer included.
• Frozen later: an IVF cycle for the carrying partner with no transfer, then a FET linked to it.
• Carrying a partner's earlier embryos: build the carrying partner a new IVF primary cycle first, then link the FET to it.
• Never link a transfer across two patients. If there is nothing valid to link to, the carrying partner needs their own primary cycle.