New Developments in In Vitro Fertilization

Are you one of the millions of people who are considering In Vitro Fertilization? If so, there are many choices and decisions to be made, including the state of the embryo(s) to be implanted. There has always been a concern that frozen embryos posed more of a risk than those that are fresh, however a newly released report has shown that frozen embryos seem to be born just as healthy as the fresh ones on average, and are even born at higher birth weights.

Researchers for Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Denmark recently reported their research regarding frozen embryos during a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproductive and Embryology. They found that frozen embryos, on average, weighed more than fresh ones, were at no greater risk for birth defects and were just as healthy. Based on the new research, doctors can feel confident they are not negatively affecting the future health of babies when they freeze the embryos for future use. In fact, doctors and patients may want to freeze embryos to avoid multiple egg and sperm donation procedures, in the event that some procedures do not result in successful pregnancies and parents might need to try multiple times. These test results are very positive, especially because doctors are trying to avoid multiple pregnancies when possible by only transferring one embryo to the uterus at a time

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a procedure where eggs are fertilized outside of the mother's womb by sperm in a fluid solution. Then the fertilized egg or eggs are placed into a patient's uterus and some frozen for later use, to hopefully result in a successful pregnancy. IVF has become a major player in alternative treatments for infertility when other methods of reproduction have failed.

During the study, the group evaluated 1,200 babies born from frozen embryos and 17,800 born from fresh embryos. They reported the frozen embryos were no more likely to have congenital malfunctions such as spina bifida or cleft palate than fresh embryos, the frozen embryos had a lower rate of babies who were treated in the neonatal care unit, more pregnancies lasting over 37 weeks, and lower incidences of babies born weighing less that 5.5 pounds.

The leader of the frozen embryo research, Dr. Anja Pinborg, said the lower quality embryos die during the freezing and thawing process, resulting in the positive selection of the frozen embryos. Currently successful IVF rates in Britain are 21.6 percent for women of all ages and increases to 29.6 for women under 35.

Other scientist attending the conference from Yale University reported that they felt the overall success rate of IVF procedures could be improved by 15 percent when using their new "fitness test". These scientists say their "fitness test" can predict the embryos that will survive 70 percent of the time when used in IVF. The technology is known as metabolomics and may be used as part of routine fertility treatment in the near future. Danny Sakkas, leader of the research, stated patients utilizing IVF fail to become pregnant around two-thirds of the time and the low rate of pregnancies is a result of doctors or scientists inability to choose the best embryo available. By using the "fitness test", pregnancies from IVF may increase by 10 to 15 percent. Sakkas stated, "It's not going to make a bad embryo good, but it should help us to tell them apart. This definitely could make the difference between people getting pregnant or not."

There are more and more options for those suffering with infertility or problems getting pregnant. Scientist, continue to research and develop better procedures and ways to improve results from IVF. The new research that has shown frozen embryos are just as healthy as fresh ones, helps to prevent unnecessary procedures to harvest the eggs and sperm Also the freezing and thawing process allows for only the strongest to survive, which seems to result in more successful pregnancies.