A reproductive clinic in New Jersey has successfully used next-generation sequencing (NGS) to screen embryos conceived in otherwise routine in vitro fertilization (IVF) cases prior to implantation.
Tag: ivf
Frozen egg procedure benefits couple coping with infertility
SALT LAKE CITY — Egg freezing had long been labeled experimental, but in October the American Society for Reproductive Medicine declared that’s no longer the case.
The first baby in Utah conceived from a frozen egg was actually delivered nearly three years ago. Kirk and Heather Larson thought it might be their last chance for getting pregnant. Now, they thank God and science for their family.
“At first the donor egg part was really kind of mind-blowing,” Heather said. “We had never heard of anything like that. We didn’t know if we were comfortable with it.”
Premature ovarian failure left Heather unable to produce eggs.
“One day it just sank in to me and became clear to me that doing in vitro with a donor egg is not that much different than adoption. I’m just adopting an egg,” she said.
However, Heather’s first two attempts at in vitro fertilization failed. The Larsons began the adoption process. Then out of the blue they were offered a unique opportunity to participate in an experimental procedure at the Reproductive Care Center in Sandy using a frozen egg. Read full article.
Girl born through in vitro fertilization, others testify on abortion before N.D. Legislature
BISMARCK — When Alexis Grabinger was in the womb, that womb belonged to her aunt.
The Jamestown High School senior and daughter of Democratic state Sen. John Grabinger, told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning that she would not be alive if her mother had not been allowed to produce multiple eggs for in vitro fertilization. The other eggs were later destroyed, something that would be considered an abortion under a resolution before the committee.
“I strongly believe my parents and the doctors are not abortionists, but rather miracle workers who brought life when there was none,” Alexis said.
Alexis was speaking in opposition to Senate Concurrent Resolution 4009, sponsored by Sen. Margaret Sitte, R-Bismarck, which proposes to amend North Dakota’s constitution by simply adding, “the inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and defended.” Read full article.
Infertility doctors and couples are fuming over a proposed bill in North Dakota
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) — A controversial piece of a abortion bill before the North Dakota Senate, has some couples and their infertility doctors fuming.
Senate Bill 2302 would limit the number of embryos a physician could transfer, and it would prevent a woman diagnosed with cancer, from storing embryos during chemotherapy.
Kathy Burgau, back in 1998, told the story of her cancer battle, hoping to have a family after chemotherapy, she had embryos frozen, so she could have children after cancer treatment. That was done here in Fargo, but this bill before the North Dakota senate tomorrow, does not allow us to freeze any embryos. It would make that illegal.
Dr. Stephanie Dahl, Reproductive Medicine Specialist: “If the bill passes, couples who want to freeze embryos before chemo, would have to go out of state. It is available now.”
And not just cancer patients. The proposed bill would limit the number of fertilized eggs an invitro-fertilization specialist could transfer into a patient during that cycle to two eggs. It could financially and emotionally cripple couples trying to conceive by way of IVF. Read full article.
Lesser known causes may come into play for couples battling infertility
AUSTIN — Infertility is a common problem among many couples trying to have children. Sometimes the causes are well known, but frequently the cause can be surprising.
Candace Biersmith was in her late-30’s when she and her husband decided it was time to have children.
“My husband and I had actually been together 18 years,” she said. “It was something we really didn’t decide until we got into our late 30’s to have children. We thought we would just be one of those couples that didn’t have children and traveled. That was something I really had to think about it and decide that I didn’t want to live my life and not have children.”
After a year and a half of trying without success, Biersmith knew the clock was ticking.
“Being an older female I did want to check into seeing what my options were, because I didn’t have five to 10 years to wait for it happen on its own,” Biersmith said.
So Biersmith made an appointment with Dr. Thomas Vaughn — a fertility specialist– with the Texas Fertility Center. Vaughn explained a variety of things can negatively impact a couple’s fertility, some known, some not so well known. Read full article.
Is infertility a disability?
Is infertility a disability?
‘Disabilities are an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives’.
If you use the above definition. Is infertility is a disability? To help you to make your decision, I include a few facts. As many members are male, it may seem that descriptions are over emotive. Infertility is an emotive subject. I have written this as honestly as I can in the hope that reading it will cause people to think before they respond with unnecessary harshness and insensitivity.
Infertility is often caused by very painful physical gynaecological problems. Endometriosis and polycystic ovaries being the most common. Most doctors will tell any woman that the best known cure for these problems is to have a pregnancy. Some women have been given IVF solely for this reason and it has worked. Symptoms have reduced significantly after she’d had a child. Read full article.
Reproduction without sex, a liberating future
(CNN) — Last year on the 50th anniversary of the creation of the contraceptive pill its inventor Carl Djerassi spoke of the coming dramatic changes to reproductive options — of the technologies that will have just as big an impact on society in the 50 years to come.
After sex without reproduction, reproduction without sex.
In an article in the UK’s “traditional values” tabloid, the Daily Mail, titled “A Terrifying Future for Female Fertility,” Djerassi said, “There are an enormous number of well-educated, proficient women who, when facing the biological clock, first pay attention to their professional ambitions…in the next 20 years, more young people will freeze their eggs and [sperm] in their 20s, and bank them for later use. They will do away with the need for contraception by being sterilised, and withdraw their eggs and sperm from the bank when they are ready to have a child via IVF.”
That is certainly one option as we develop greater capabilities to store eggs more reliably and safely so that they are not damaged by the freezing/thawing process meant to preserve them. But in the next 20 years, there could be other developments on their way to the clinic. For example — also to avert damage — freezing strips of ovarian tissue instead of eggs, or tapping into recently identified reserves of ovarian stem cells that could be turned into a fresh supply of eggs for a woman, at any age; or even creating to order eggs (or sperm) from skin or bone marrow stem cells of men and women.
Early experiments with mice have shown that both sperm and eggs can be generated from the stem cells of males, and eggs from that of females, and that they can be fertilized to produce viable young. Read full article.
IVF method linked to size of babies
The way in which embryos are prepared during in vitro fertilization may influence the size of the baby that’s born, a new study from Finland suggests.
Embryos that spend long periods growing in culture (around five to six days) before being transferred to the mother’s womb are more likely to be born heavier than normal for their gestational age, compared to embryos that spend a shorter period in culture (two to three days), the study found. (Gestational age refers to how far along a pregnancy is.)
On the flip side, embryos that spend long periods in culture are less likely to be born small for their gestational age, the researchers said.
Previous studies have shown babies born as a result of IVF treatment
are at an increased risk for preterm birth and low birth weight. Factors related to the pregnancy, or to the IVF technique itself, may be responsible for the association. Few studies have looked at the effect of culture time on the baby’s birth weight, however.
Still, additional, larger studies are needed to confirm the new findings, the researchers said. Read full article.
Adoption Tax Credit is Set to Expire. So?
After a few rounds of Clomid, or IUIs followed by IVF treatment, some couples are faced with the inevitability that having a child who is biologically linked to both of them won’t happen.
Over time and with some discussion, …
Our Infertile Years
My husband flicked the syringe to remove the air bubbles. Aside from hipsters lounging at candlelit tables across the street, the sidewalks were clear. If we worked together, I could shoot up before anyone walked by. By the glow of the dome light, I pulled up my shirt, unbuttoned my pants and swiped an alcohol pad across my stomach while he prepared the injection.
I held my breath, and he plunged the needle in my belly, ringed with the bruises that marked his love for me. For an upcoming fertility treatment, I had to inject myself that evening, during the hours I attended a book reading in Los Feliz. By the time my husband and I left the reception — where the two of us going into the house’s sole bathroom would have perplexed guests – it was too late to wait until we returned home. Read full article.