A new breakthrough in IVF procedure has raised the hopes of thousands of suffering infertile couples. Not only does this new breakthrough dramatically improve the IVF success rate but it also reduces the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
This could really be the news that many infertility sufferers have been waiting for over the years as many have turned away from IVF because of the high in vitro fertilization cost .
“I believe it is the most exciting breakthrough weve had in probably 30 years,” said Professor Simon Fishel, managing director of the CARE Fertility Group, where the technique was developed.
“Every IVF practice in the world is unintentionally and unwittingly putting back into the womb unviable embryos that dont make babies, [but now] we hope to see a paradigm shift in terms of IVF. Its a game changer for everybody to have such an uplift in live birth rates. This is the beginning of something revelatory,” Professor Fishel said.
So, What Is This IVF Breakthrough?
Scientists at the CARE Fertility Group believe they have developed a technique that might help double or triple the relative amount of healthy babies born through fertility treatments. For example, while presently the average number of embryos implanted into women in the UK that lead to live births is about 24% the researchers believe this could be increased to 78 percent using this new technique for selecting the best embryo.
Besides, this new IVF treatment procedure costs about $750 as against $5000-$10,000 which is the average cost IVF treatments carried out each year in licensed clinics in Britain – most of which unfortunately were unsuccessful causing emotional stress or trauma to the couples.
This new procedure (time-lapse technique) works by identifying the best embryos to be implanted into the womb based on the time it has taken to develop between two key stages in the early life-cycle of the embryo.
Scientists have discovered when this period lasts for more than six hours the IVF embryo is likely to be abnormal, carrying an uncommon amount of chromosomes called aneuploidy, which leads to a failure of the pregnancy.
According to The Independent, “A preliminary study, published in the journal Reproductive Medicine Online and based on a retrospective analysis of 88 IVF embryos of 69 couples, found that the time-lapse technique could have improved the success rate of life births in this particular group of patients from 39 per cent to 61 per cent”.
Once the procedure is refined and applied to a wider population of infertile couples seeking IVF treatment, Professor Fishel hopes for an even better success rate.
“Our work has shown that we can easily classify embryos into low or high risk of being chromosomally abnormal. This is important because in itself this is the largest single cause of IVF failure and miscarriage,” he said.
“The beauty of this technology is that the information is provided by a non-invasive process. So far we have seen a 56 per cent uplift compared to conventional technology, giving our patients the equivalent to a 78 per cent live-birth rate,” he added.
Alison Campbell, the embryology director at Care Fertility in Nottingham, developed the computer algorithm controlling the analysis, states, “With time-lapse we have the ability to view more than 5,000 images over the same time period to observe and measure more closely each stage of division and growth. As a result of continuous monitoring we have demonstrated that delays at defined points indicate abnormal development”.
Before now, IVF embryos in an incubator are checked manually each day by embryologists but with the new technology, the time-lapse cameras are able to do this automatically by taking pictures every 10 minutes without interfering with embryo development.
“With time-lapse we have the ability to view more than 5,000 images over the same time period to observe and measure more closely each stage of division and growth. As a result of continuous monitoring we have demonstrated that delays at defined points indicate abnormal development,” said Alison Campbell, embryology director at Care Fertility in Nottingham, who developed the computer algorithm controlling the analysis.
This is indeed exciting news for infertility sufferers who are considering IVF. With this new improvement and reduction in the cost of IVf more and more people now have greater chances of overcoming the challenges of infertility!