“It might be quite alluring to couples who desperately want a girl or a boy, but we still need to look at it on a larger scale,” said study leader James Stanger, an embryologist at Pivet Medical Centre in Perth. Read the rest of this entry »
Australia Medicare funding for IVF services will be expanded to cover an advanced technique for injecting sperm cells into human eggs, which is a step likely to help thousands more infertile couples have a baby.
The technique, is called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) , is used when a man’s sperm is unable to fertilise his partner’s egg naturally. The treatment costs from $500 to $800, a fee couples have so far had to pay from their own pockets. Releasing its response yesterday to an expert panel review of IVF, the federal Government said the procedure would be covered in a planned readjustment of IVF items under Medicare.
The Government confirmed it would not restrict funding for In vitro Vertilisation services, either by limiting the number of cycles per year or by denying Medicare subsidies to women in their 40s, when success rates are lower.
Both steps had been flagged by Health Minister Tony Abbott last year, before a furore among the Coalition’s ranks forced a backdown and prompted the Government to refer the matter to the review committee. Read the rest of this entry »
The research team from Melbourne, Monash University have used sophisticated genetic amplification techniques to identify which test tube embryos are most likely to be successfully implanted to produce a healthy baby.
Right now, it is impossible to find out which embryos are likely to develop into successful pregnancies and because of this most couples decide to have more than one embryo implanted in order to increase the chances of a pregnancy. This can result in multiple pregnancy that can be dangerous to both the mother and the babies.
Dr. Gayle Jones, co-author and senior research scientist at the Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories, says currently embryos are chosen on the basis of appearance, shape and regularity.
Dr. Gayle Jones says by increasing the predictive value by just 20% , far more people will be encouraged to accept a single embryo transfer.
For the research the team took DNA finger prints by removing 8 to 20 cells from a cell layer of the embryos known as the trophectoderm, five days after they were fertilised.
They were taken from 48 women in Greece undergoing in vitro fertilisation , at this stage the embryo is known as a blastocyst which is when they are implanted in the women’s womb. All the women in the study had at least one of their blastocysts transferred to their womb.
Of the group, 25 eventually became pregnant and 37 babies were born and the scientists compared the DNA fingerprints with blood taken from the umbilical cord or swabs of cheek cells of the babies that were born.
It was revealed that they all contained genes that were involved in cell adhesion, cell communication, cellular metabolic processes and response to stimuli.
Dr. Jones says it could be possible to narrow the gene set down to between 5 and 10 which will give a much better prediction of an embryo’s viability and ability to develop to a full term pregnancy.
The researchers say to be able to select the single most viable embryo available for transfer will revolutionise the practice of IVF, and could end the need to transfer more than one embryo into a woman’s womb to ensure success.
This will not only improve pregnancy rates but will eliminate multiple pregnancies and the complications it could bring. Experts say the best rule for all practitioners is one embryo, one baby.
This study appears in the journal Human Reproduction.
“Women undertaking In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment are more likely to give birth to a boy.A study by IVF Australia embryologist Jean Scott found that embryos conceived using the IVF technique and grown for a longer period of time had a higher chance of being male.”
The report published in Sydney Morning Herald is presented to the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague last week. The findings indicate that doctors choose to use those embryos which are dividing fastest and that these embryos tend to be male. There is a 56% percent chance of a male baby if an embryo is conceived using IVF and grown to blastocyst (8 cell - 5 day) stage.
Androgen: Hormone that stimulates the activity of the accessory male sex organs and encourages development of male sex characteristics. Also produced in low quantities in females.
ART - Assisted reproductive Techniques: ART - Assisted reproductive Techniques
Artificial Insemination (AI): The depositing of sperm in the vagina near the cervix or directly into the uterus, with the use of a catheter instead of by sexual intercourse. This technique is used to overcome sexual performance problems, to avoid sperm-mucus interaction problems, to maximise the potential of poor semen, and for using donor sperm.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART): A variety of procedures used to bring about conception without sexual intercourse, including IVF, and GIFT.
Blastocyst transfer: A recent advance in infertility treatment, in which embryos develop for 4 or 5 days (until they reach blastocyst stage), rather than the usual 2 or 3 days in IVF.
Corpus luteum: A structure that forms at the site of an ovarian follicle after it releases an egg. The corpus luteum releases estrogen and progesterone, two hormones necessary for maintaining a pregnancy. If pregnancy occurs, the corpus luteum functions for five or six months. If pregnancy does not occur, it stops functioning.
Cryopreservation: Storage of organs or tissues at very low temperatures. Embryos that are not used in an ART cycle can be cryopreserved for future use.
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IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilisation, is a procedure which egg and sperm are joined together outside the body in a specialised laboratory. The fertilised egg is allowed to grow in a protected environment for a couple days before being place back into the uterus.
The main procedure of IVF treatment are as follows: