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Study tests new IVF device

Catherine McDiarmid-Watt | Saturday, August 11, 2012 | 0 comments

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A new way of processing embryos during IVF treatment can improve the chances of pregnancy by more than a quarter, The Daily Telegraph today reported.

The story is based on research evaluating a new system for incubating newly fertilized embryos during IVF treatment. The new system is designed to protect the growing bundles of cells from environmental stresses that might affect their development.

In conventional systems, the embryos had to be transferred between different devices to perform all the various stages of IVF treatment, but the new system allows a range of functions to be performed in a single sealed unit that regulates the temperature and quality of the air around them.

This research found that in the conventional system 30% of embryos successfully developed to the ‘blastocyst stage’, which is seen five or six days after fertilization, compared with 40% in the new system. The new system was also associated with an increase in clinical pregnancy rates during the period that it was introduced.

The findings are interesting, but they do not add up to an IVF “ breakthrough”, as is suggested by The Daily Telegraph. The new method of incubating embryos sounds promising, but no randomised trial has yet been undertaken into its effectiveness. Further good research is needed to investigate whether it can improve pregnancy and live birth rates.

This method of culturing embryos in a laboratory for five to six days after fertilization before implantation in the womb is called blastocyst transfer. Transferring the fertilized embryo to the womb two to three days after fertilization is called embryo transfer.

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Image: Budgeting for Infertility: How to Bring Home a Baby Without Breaking the Bank, by Evelina W Sterling, Angie Best-Boss. Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (March 17, 2009)-
Budgeting for Infertility: How to Bring Home a Baby Without Breaking the Bank
by Evelina W Sterling, Angie Best-Boss

-- Having a baby can be one of the most wonderful times of your life -- but if you need help to conceive, it can swiftly become a staggeringly expensive undertaking.

With the average cost of infertility treatments ranging from $35,000 to $85,000 in the United States (most of which is not covered by insurance companies), many women and couples find themselves having to make difficult choices about building their families.

Getting a grip on your finances is one of the few things you can do to regain control of this process. Infertility experts Evelina Weidman Sterling and Angie Best-Boss have created the ultimate guide to ensuring the most cost-effective care with the highest chances for success.

With anecdotes, interviews, and advice from both doctors and patients, you can easily apply these specific money-saving strategies to your own unique situation.

Image: Buy Now on Amazon.comPaperback: 304 pages
Click to order/for more info: Budgeting for Infertility

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Catherine

About Catherine: I am mom to three grown sons, two grandchildren and two rescue dogs. After years of raising my boys as a single mom, I remarried a wonderful man who had never had a child of his own. Unexpectedly, I found myself pregnant at 49!
Sadly we lost that precious baby at 8 weeks, and decided to try again. Five more losses, turned down for donor egg, foster care and adoption due to my age and losses - we have accepted that there will be no more babies in our house.

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