IVF NewsNews: Ovary transplant birth due to 'egg stem cells'?
Dr. Kirsty Horsey 06 October 2005
A US woman who became infertile after cancer treatment has stunned doctors by becoming pregnant naturally, following a transplant of ovarian tissue into her abdomen. Ann Dauer, from Canton, Ohio has now given birth to a healthy baby girl, named Sienna. Mrs Dauer had one of her ovaries removed and frozen prior to having chemotherapy for Hodgkins lymphoma. In August 2004, after completing her treatment, Mrs Dauer had slices of ovarian tissue implanted under the skin of her abdomen. [ Full Article ] News: Romanian woman set to become world's oldest mother
Dr. Kirsty Horsey 11 January 2005
A Romanian woman is set to become the world's oldest mother at the age of 67. Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer, is said to be almost seven months pregnant with twin girls following ten years of fertility treatment. She also underwent hormone treatment for nine years to delay her menopause.
In 2003, a 65-year old Indian woman became the oldest woman to give birth. She had used an egg donated from her 26-year old niece, which was fertilised with her husband's sperm. Now, Ms Iliescu is set to beat that record having become pregnant after artificial insemination using donated sperm. Liz Buttle became the UK's oldest mother in 1997 when she had a son at the age of 60. Ms Iliescu said that she had put all her efforts into having a career and found no time to build relationships or start a family. 'After retiring I regretted it bitterly', she said, adding 'but I never gave up hope'. She continued: 'I believed a woman has a right to give birth and that is why I followed my dream, no matter how old I was'. But some people are not so happy with the news. Alexandru Manzu, from the Romanian Save The Children charity, said 'Romanian orphanages are full with children - we cannot support cases like this that are only likely to worsen the problem'. He continued: 'What chance has a woman of this age raising her children to adulthood where they can support themselves? She will be 85 when they are 18 and old enough to leave home'. Meanwhile, another report suggests that the practice of egg donation is on the rise in Romania, with increasing numbers of women choosing to donate eggs to infertile couples. According to the BBC report, women can earn ?150 for each donation, which is the same as the average monthly wage. This has meant that many women from other countries, including the UK, now go to Romania for treatment using donated eggs. [ Full Article ] News: High pregnancy rates achieved in ART through a personalised approach to ovarian stimulation treatment
Press releases ESHRE 2007 05 July 2007
Lyon, France: An international group of fertility specialists has developed an easy-to use mathematical formula that allows a personalised approach to ovarian stimulation therapy for women seeking fertility treatment. Clinical tests demonstrated that when clinicians used the formula (or algorithm) to calculate the best starting dose for each patient, both the number of oocytes retrieved and pregnancy rates rose.
Professor François Olivennes told the 23rd annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Monday 2 July) that the algorithm was based on four factors that predicted ovarian response and that were measured routinely when women were evaluated for fertility treatment: normal (or basal) levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), body mass index, age and the number of small growing (antral) follicles in the ovary detected during screening. “This FSH dose algorithm is simple and easy to use and utilises readily available patient characteristics,” said Prof Olivennes, coordinator of the Centre de FIV Eylau La Muette, Paris, France. “It is the first to be tested in a prospective multi-national clinical study and it provided each patient with an individualised starting dose of FSH, which could be maintained throughout treatment and resulted in an excellent treatment outcome as testified by the number of oocytes retrieved and the high pregnancy rates. “This approach should enable us to improve patient management, treatment outcomes and safety by reducing the chances of having to either cancel cycles because the ovaries have not been stimulated enough or of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) developing because the ovaries have been over-stimulated.” Moderate or severe OHSS can occur in 3-8% of IVF cycles [1]. Moderate OHSS can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Severe OHSS, which is an uncommon event, can be accompanied by ovarian enlargement and fluid imbalances, sometimes resulting in thrombosis and, very rarely, in death. Prof Olivennes was presenting the research on behalf of a multi-national team, the CONSORT Study Group (CONsistency in r-FSH Starting dOses for individualised tReatmenT). The group treated 161 ART patients, younger than 35, in 18 centres around the world. The doctors used the algorithm to allocate the women to receive one of five different doses of a follicle stimulating hormone called “recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone, filled by mass” (r-hFSH FbM or GONAL-f FbM). [2] The doses, measured in international units (IU), were 75, 112.5, 150, 187.5 and 225. The women were treated for an average of 11 days. Oocytes were retrieved from 84.4% of women, and 80.9% of the women subsequently underwent embryo transfer. Pregnancies per cycle were 31.3%, 31.1%, 35.3%, 50% and 20% per starting dose of 75IU, 112.5IU, 150IU, 187.5IU and 225IU respectively, with an average pregnancy rate of 34.2%. There were two cases of severe OHSS associated with pregnancy. One case of severe OHSS occurred in a patient allocated to the 75 IU dose group but who received a higher starting dose of FSH from the attending physician. Prof Olivennes said: “The results of the CONSORT clinical study to validate a simple FSH starting dose calculator are very promising, with a high clinical pregnancy rate. It represents an important step forward in aiding clinicians using GONAL-f FbM to individualise the starting dose based upon four easily measured patient characteristics: basal level of FSH in early spontaneous cycle, age (less than 35 years old), body mass index and antral follicle count in early spontaneous cycle. “However, we still have more work to do before the algorithm can be used for all patients in the clinic.Firstly, the FSH dose calculator has only been validated for GONAL-f FbM – there are other types of FSH in use. Secondly, we have demonstrated its usefulness in women younger than 35 undergoing ART; further work is required to extend its use in other patient groups. “The results of this clinical study will provide us with an opportunity to fine-tune the model so as to allow us to further improve its usefulness before making it more generally available. One of the next steps that we are considering is to make the CONSORT FSH dose calculator available to fertility specialists through a dedicated web site, with an appropriate follow-up procedure. “At present, reproductive medicine specialists determine starting doses so as to induce multiple follicle development based upon some of the characteristics used to develop our model, other tests of ovarian reserve, and their previous clinical experience. We hope that this research will represent a move towards an evidence-based approach to the use of FSH.” [ Full Article ] News: Study supports use of 'soft' IVF treatment
Zulehkha Waheed 06 March 2007
Women trying to have a baby using standard in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques are spending money on unnecessary drugs that have harmful side-effects and which could be compromising their health, according to the authors of a new report published in the Lancet medical journal. [ Full Article ] News: 60 year old woman gives birth to twins
Danielle Hamm 31 May 2007
A sixty year-old woman has become the oldest women in the US to give birth to twins. The two healthy boys were delivered in the US Hackensack University Medical Centre on 22 May.
The twins were conceived via IVF in a South African clinic. The couple, Frieda Birabaun, a psychologist and her husband Ken, a New York attorney, are said to be delighted with the new arrivals. They have three other children - two boys aged six and 33 and a girl aged 29. Their youngest son was also conceived via IVF and the couple is reported to have been partly motivated to have a fourth child to provide a sibling for their youngest son. Stories of women over 60 giving birth following IVF pregnancies has generated debate in recent years around how old is too old to become a parent. The oldest woman in the world to give birth - also to twins - was 67 at the time of delivery, in Spain last December. Frieda Birabaun is reported to view the issue of later motherhood in terms of women's rights. She has said that she wants women to feel empowered by the possibility of bearing children later in life, and wants women to realise that they have choices. The possibility of conceiving so late in life, via IVF, raises ethical questions about how much choice women should have over when they have children. The risks associated with pregnancy are known to increase with age and the number of viable fetuses per pregnancy. Concerns have also been raised about the impact of having older parents on the welfare of the child. In developed countries, however, people are living longer and healthier lives and to prevent access to assisted reproduction on the basis of age alone could be perceived as unjust age discrimination.
In US there is no upper age limit on access to assisted reproduction, although the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), which represents 85 per cent of clinics in the US, recommends that IVF should be offered to women under 50, using donor eggs, and under 44, using their own eggs. In the UK, National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines specify that access to IVF on the National Health Service should be only be offered to women between the ages of 23 and 39.
News: Mobile phones and Viagra linked to male infertility?
Dr. Kirsty Horsey 28 June 2004
BioNews reporting from ESHRE conference, Berlin:
Using a mobile phone and taking the anti-impotence drug Viagra may both affect a man's fertility, according to a report in the Sunday Times. A study carried out by researchers at the University of Szeged in Hungary found a link between 'heavy use' of mobile phones and a 30 per cent drop in sperm counts. But the research, due to be presented at the annual European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) meeting in Berlin, did not take into account other factors. Meanwhile, another study due to be reported at the conference suggests that Viagra use can interfere with the fertilisation process in mice. The Hungarian researchers studied 221 men for 13 months, and compared the sperm of men who used their phones heavily with those that did not. They found that those who carried their phone with them nearly all of the time had up to a 30 per cent reduction in their sperm count. The scientists stress that further work is needed to confirm the link, but conclude that 'the prolonged use of cell phones may have a negative effect on spermatogenesis and male fertility, that deteriorates both concentration and motility'. However, the study has been criticised because it did not take into account other factors, such as the stress levels or age of the participants. A spokesperson for the Mobile Operators Association told the Sunday Times that 'successive studies have found no adverse health effects'. Researchers at Queens University Belfast are due to present a study carried out on mice, which suggests that Viagra use could affect the ability of sperm to fertilise an egg. The research, which builds on findings presented at the British Fertility Society meeting in March 2004, shows that female mice mated with males given Viagra produced fewer embryos than those mated with untreated mice. The scientists also found that Viagra use was linked to a reduced rate of embryo growth. The team says the study shows that Viagra 'significantly reduces' fertilisation and embryo growth rates, and has implications for men using the drug who are contemplating having children. However, when the scientists first announced their findings in March, John Dean, secretary general of the European Society for Sexual Medicine cautioned that lab findings may not reflect what is happening in the human body. He told BBC News Online that, in the five years that Viagra has been around, 'no overall detrimental effect on fertility has been observed'. [ Full Article ] News: Study reveals 'gender bias' in IVF treatment
Ken Hanscombe 07 October 2010
The probability of having a male baby is affected by fertility treatments, Australian scientists have found. Up to 4.6 percent more boys were born with some treatments and up to 2.8 percent more girls with others. The national population-based study is the first to assess the impact of fertility treatments on the ratio of boys to girls born. Ms Jishan Dean, co-author of the study from the School of Women's and Children's Health, University of New South Wales said in a press release: 'The results from this study demonstrate that a particular assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedure or treatment course can alter the probability of having a male baby from the natural sex ratio at birth'. The team looked at 13,368 Australian and New Zealand babies born to 13,165 women between 2002 and 2006 following fertility treatment using single embryo transfer. They found that IVF caused 53.0 percent of live births to be boys, 2.5 percent more than the long-term Australian average. Implanting embryos four days after fertilisation (blastocyst stage) also increased the probability of having a male baby to 54.1 percent, but implanting after two or three days (cleavage stage) reduced this to 49.9 percent. Half of all births following ICSI(intracytoplasmic sperm injection) were girls. The imbalance was even greater when these techniques were used in combination. IVF and blastocyst-stage embryo transfer increased the probability of having a male baby to 56.1 percent; ICSI and cleavage-stage transfer decreased the probability to 47.7 percent. Ms Dean called for more research into the underlying causes of the gender imbalance. Professor Philip Steer, editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG), which published the research, agreed. He said: 'It is important that we don't allow such imbalances to occur unintentionally, simply because we have neglected to study the factors that influence the secondary sex ratio (SSR) in the increasing proportion of the population who use ART'. Dr Allan Pacey, from the University of Sheffield, said: 'Patients should certainly not consider using this as a method of trying to have a boy or girl, since the procedure used needs to be selected to try and maximise the chance of pregnancy'. [ Full Article ] News: Overweight women more likely to miscarry healthy babies
Rebecca Robey 17 November 2008
Overweight women are at greater risk of miscarrying a genetically normal baby in the early stages of pregnancy than women who maintain a healthy weight, according to a new study by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, US. The researchers, presenting at the annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) conference, suggested that this indicates that a mother's weight can affect the outcome of an otherwise healthy pregnancy. [ Full Article ] News: New stem cell research may help fertility treatments
Charlotte Maden 20 April 2009
New work in stem cell research has challenged the long-standing belief that women are born with all the eggs they will ever need. The results were published in the journal Nature Stem Cell, although the study was received with caution. [ Full Article ] News: Sperm counts drop out near laptops using WiFi
Luciana Strait 11 December 2011
Ejaculated sperm has been shown to be significantly damaged by prolonged exposure to a WiFi connected laptop. A study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, found that after four hours of exposure there was a significant decrease in sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation. 'Our data suggest that the use of a laptop computer wirelessly connected to the Internet and positioned near the male reproductive organs may decrease human sperm quality', said lead researcher Dr Conrado Avendaño, from Argentina's Nascentis Centre for Reproductive Medicine. 'At present we do not know whether this effect is induced by all laptop computers connected by WiFi to the Internet or what use conditions heighten this effect'. The researchers, based in Argentina and the US, took samples from 29 healthy males aged 26 to 45. Each donor's semen was divided into two samples. One sample was exposed to a WiFi Internet-connected laptop for four hours, while the remainder of the semen was used as a control. The study examined sperm motility, viability, and DNA fragmentation. The results showed that 25 percent of the sperm under the laptop had no motion and nine percent showed irreversible DNA damage. Only 14 percent of the control sperm sample showed no movement, and three percent showed DNA damage. The results suggest that electromagnetic radiation emitted by wireless signals may be responsible for causing the damage to sperm. While this may be the first study to evaluate the impact of laptop use on human sperm, further research is needed as the study relied on a small sample. UK fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: 'The study is very well conducted, but we should be cautious about what it may infer about the fertility of men who regularly use laptops with WiFi on their laps'. 'Ejaculated sperm are particularly sensitive to many factors because outside the body they don't have the protection of the other cells, tissues and fluids of the body in which they are stored before ejaculation', Dr Pacey explained. 'Therefore, we cannot infer from this study that because a man might use a laptop with WiFi on his lap for more than four hours then his sperm will necessarily be damaged and he will be less fertile. We need large epidemiological studies to determine this, and to my knowledge these have not yet been performed'. However, Dr Pacey still warned that men should be cautious about balancing a laptop on their laps for extended periods of time. 'We know from other studies that the bottom of laptops can become incredibly hot and inadvertent testicular heating is a risk factor for poor sperm quality'. [ Full Article ] |