Tag: ivf

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

More choose single-embryo transplants for IVF

brigitte

As in vitro fertilization has become an increasingly common fact of life for those seeking to start a family, so have twins, triplets – or more, thanks to the transplantation of multiple embryos. The CDC reports that the twin birth rate rose 76 percent from 1980 to 2009 while triples and higher-order multiple births rose a whopping 315 percent.

But the tide of multiple births may be ebbing as an increasing number of women are opting to transfer a single embryo during IVF.

According to experts, women usually have two or more embryos transplanted in order to boost the chances for a baby. (In the rare case of “Octomom” Nadya Suleman, eight embryos were implanted, resulting in eight live births.)

Thanks to better technology, though, single-embryo transplants are now almost as effective as multiple-embryo transplants – with far fewer health risks to both mom and baby. High-profile cases like Suleman’s have also raised awareness about the risk of implanting too many embryos.

“It’s something that will contribute to healthier pregnancies,” says Dr. Louis Weckstein, owner of the Reproductive Science Center, a fertility clinic operating in the San Francisco Bay area for 30 nearly years. “We educate patients that transferring one embryo in select situations is almost equally as successful as multiple transfers, and there are a number of studies largely confirming this.”

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Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

CDC Seeks Comments on Draft National Action Plan on Infertility

ASRM News and Research

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is requesting comment on its draft National Public Action Plan for the Detection, Prevention and Management of Infertility. ASRM members may recall the outline for a draft plan was developed in 2010 by an infertility working group within the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Call for State Funding of IVF in Ireland

brigitte

Fertility experts have called for the provision of State funding for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

“The realisation that financial and societal savings could result from the introduction of a State-funded IVF programme with compulsory elective single embryo transfers (eSET) where recommended should come sooner rather than later,” they concluded.

Their research makes available for the first time cumulative data from six of the seven IVF clinics in the country providing a reference on assisted reproductive treatment (ART) and outcomes for practicing doctors in Ireland.

Researchers from various fertility centres in Ireland presented, in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal, national data on ART treatment over 10 years voluntarily reported by six out of seven IVF clinics.

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Fertility Headlines

IVF Treatment and Overall Rate of Breast Cancer…

ASRM News and Research

In a large population-based study out of Western Australia, researchers have found that IVF is not associated with an overall increased risk of breast cancer. However, the analysis of 20 years’ worth of linked hospital and registry records demonstrates an underlying, age-related connection between IVF treatment and breast cancer.  The effect of IVF on breast cancer rates differed depending on the age of the women at the time treatment was commenced.  In younger, but not older, patients there was an association between having IVF and an increased risk of breast cancer.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Twins conceived after dad’s death using frozen sperm shouldn’t get survivor benefits

brigitte

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a man’s children who were conceived through artificial insemination after his death cannot get Social Security survivor benefits.

Justices unanimously ruled that twins born to Robert Capato’s surviving wife Karen did not qualify for survivor benefits because of a requirement that the federal government use state inheritance laws.

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Fertility Headlines

Even if your husband had a vasectomy years ago, it may not be too late to reverse it

Lorie A. Parch

sperm

New research just out, led by Dr. Paul Turek, a San Francisco-based specialist in male fertility and sexual health, shows that even very old vasectomies — as old as those done 38 years ago — can be reversed with good results, he says. “For decades, conventional wisdom has been that the older the vasectomy, the less likely that ejaculated sperm returns after microsurgical vasectomy reversal. But this may not be true,” said Turek in a press release about the new research, which was presented this week at the American Urological Association in Atlanta.

Turek and his colleagues studied 343 men who’d had vasectomy reversals, comparing those with “younger” vasectomies (those from one to 15 years old) and “older” vasectomies (those 16 to 38 years old) to see if there was a difference in the amount of the sperm in the ejaculate following the reversal. Says Turek, the research found that “older vasectomies up to 38 years did not have worse outcomes after reversal surgery.” That should be reassuring, he says, adding, “don’t be shy about looking into vasectomy reversal for a vasectomy older than 15 years; it can often be reversed quite well.” Turek notes that a limitation of his research was that it did not examine pregnancy rates, but only ejaculated sperm counts in men who’d had their vasectomies reversed.

If your husband has had a vasectomy and you’re considering a round of IVF, it may be worth talking to a specialist in reversals — not least because of the very different costs of the two procedures: “In general, a vasectomy reversal is about one-third to one-half the price of one IVF cycle,” notes Turek, adding that a reversal costs about $5,000 to $9,000, on average. About 5 to 7 percent of vasectomized men get a reversal procedure.

Turek adds that while “you can get great results reversing a vasectomy of any age in the right hands, the problem is that not everyone can do it well.” To find the right specialist, read Turek’s “Insider’s Guide to Vasectomy Reversal.”

Author: 
Lorie A. Parch