Washington Post Commentary Explores Embryo Freezing

The Washington Post featured a commentary from Gillian St. Lawrence, a 30-year-old woman who underwent in vitro fertilization and embryo freezing as "a way to postpone parenthood without risking the higher miscarriage and genetic disorder rates that occur in babies conceived from parents older than 35." Typically, women who undergo IVF take hormones to produce several blastocyts -- five- to seven-day-old embryos -- and one or two of the embryos are implanted into the woman shortly thereafter. The remaining embryos can be frozen for future pregnancy attempts.
St. Lawrence writes that she initially did not plan on having children and that the idea of embryo freezing occurred to her while she was researching ways to donate her eggs. "My husband and I could create embryos, freeze them and, essentially, donate them to our future selves," she states.

Through her research on IVF, St. Lawrence "learned that the younger the parents are when they produce the eggs and sperm involved in any conception, whether in the womb or in vitro, the better the chance of a healthy baby." The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology reports that 47% of IVF pregnancies derived from fresh embryos resulted in live births, compared with 35% of pregnancies from frozen embryos that resulted in live births. "Initially, those success rates did not sound high," St. Lawrence writes, adding, "But the numbers referred to a single cycle; most couples ... produce several embryos during IVF, and if the first implantation is unsuccessful, they try again, and the cumulative success rate is much higher" (St. Lawrence, Washington Post, 7/6).

Christchurch woman seeks an egg donor

Desperate to be a mum, a Christchurch woman with a genetic condition that means she cannot conceive is advertising for an egg donor after two failed in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles.

Can you help Lisa? Email reporters@press.co.nz.

Lisa never thought she would consider an egg donor, but said she doesn't want her inability to conceive to be her life's story.

She doesn't want to feel odd around friends and family with children, and instead wants to put her grief and anger aside and get on with her life.

But first she needs to try a donor egg to see if it will succeed where two IVF courses failed.

Now 38, there was never a time when Lisa even considered she might not be able to have children.

In a stable relationship for 10 years and married for five, she said she and her partner thought there was no hurry.

"Being able to have a family was something I took for granted."

But Lisa discovered she was the carrier of a hereditary condition that meant having children naturally wasn't an option.

The couple went through two treatment cycles. The egg harvesting went well but once the eggs became embryos only one from both cycles was worth implanting. The procedure failed.

"Trying IVF a third time would most likely end in the same heartbreaking result."

IVF was hard and the financial, emotional and physical burden too much to bear.

Lisa said the outcome has changed everything for her.

"I live daily with grief and feelings of shame surrounding my tainted femininity and inability to give life."

Her sister was also unable to have children, which means her quest for an egg needs to go beyond her immediate family.

She was widening her appeal to anyone willing to help. She needs someone between 21 and 37 who has completed her own family and who is willing to go through counselling, then IVF for no monetary reward, since egg donors are not allowed to be paid.

IVF Babies May be More Prone to Childhood Cancers

IVF babies, those children who were conceived via in vitro fertilization, seem to experience an increased risk for childhood cancer versus babies conceived naturally, wrote WebMD, citing Swedish research. The new study is believed to be the first of its kind to indicate a scientifically strong link, said the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, reported WebMD.

According to the study’s lead author, childhood cancer is considered rare and the increase seen is small to moderate, potentially linked to the infertility, said WebMD. “There is an increased risk for cancer in children born via IVF, but it’s rather small,” researcher Bengt Kallen, MD, PhD, a retired professor of embryology and head of the Tornblad Institute, University of Lund, Lund, Germany, told WebMD. “The estimate that we give is that the risk increases 40 percent, but the estimate has, of course, a degree of uncertainty,” Dr. Kallen added. The study appears in the journal Pediatrics.

The team researched 26,692 Swedish children born via IVF from 1982 to 2005, using the Swedish Cancer Registry, said WebMD. The group compared the IVF children who had cancer versus those conceived naturally, noted WebMD, which added that the emerging study compliments information from a prior study by the same team, which looked at some 17,000 children. The prior study showed the same results; however, the emerging study indicates a stronger link.

After accounting for a series of variables—maternal age, pregnancy instances, miscarriages, body mass index—53 cases of cancer were seen in the IVF children, an increase over the 38 that would have been statistically probable in the general population, said WebMD. Cancers included leukemia and cancers of the central nervous system and eye, as well as other solid tumors and Langerhans histiocytosis, a condition in which the body experiences an excess of a specific white blood cell, wrote WebMD. While experts disagree on this condition being a cancer, when the incidences of this condition—six cases—were removed, there still existed an increased risk of 34 percent, added WebMD.

IVF babies were 1.4 times—40 percent—likelier to experience cancer in the follow-up period, which ended in 2006, said WebMD.

Last month we wrote that the risk of birth defects seems to be twice as high in babies conceived via fertility treatment, versus babies conceived naturally, according to French scientists. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment includes a variety of infertility treatment methods such as vitro fertilization (IVF) in which an egg is fertilized by sperm in a lab, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Earlier this year we wrote, citing Reuters, that women who undergo IVF or ICSI and who become pregnant, experience an increased risk of giving birth to a stillborn baby, according to Danish scientists. In 2008, we wrote that Chinese researchers reported that the use of IVF or ICSI to conceive appears to increase the odds of Y-chromosome defects or “microdeletions” in male offspring, meaning that chromosomal defects, or deletions, could result in defective sperm production and possibly hypospadias, a congenital malformation of the male sex organs in which the urinary outlet, or urethra, does not open through the glans of the penis, but develops on the penis’ underside.

Test predicts success of second IVF

A test that predicts the success of second attempts at in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment with 1000 times more accuracy than the existing approach has been developed.

Experts believe the patented test could help couples decide if it is worth another try at IVF after an initial failure.

About three quarters of IVF treatments fail to produce a pregnancy.

Currently, age is used as the starting point for advising patients on the likely outcome of IVF.

A woman of 38 might be told she has a 33 per cent chance of becoming pregnant with IVF but the odds are lengthened if she is low on eggs.

The new test is said to be 1000 times more accurate than age-based guidelines.

However, since it relies on data from a first IVF treatment cycle, it can only be used to predict the success or failure of a second treatment.

The procedure, developed by Dr Mylene Yao and a team of researchers at Stanford University, California, effectively turns the initial cycle into a prognostic test.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists concluded: "Our findings show that the first IVF cycle can provide quantitative, customised prediction of the live birth probability in a subsequent cycle.

"This concept is radically different from the current paradigm, in which age is a major predictor."

Stanford University holds a patent on the test and a spin out company called Univfy has been formed to develop and market it.

The scientists analysed data from 1676 IVF treatments performed at Stanford between 2003 and 2006 and identified 52 factors that influenced a woman's chances of having a baby.

As well as age, they included levels of certain hormones, the number and quality of eggs, and embryo characteristics.

A computer model was developed that used the information to sort patients into different sub-groups according to their subsequent IVF success.

In 60 per cent of cases the model's predictions varied significantly from those based on age alone - and more than half of these showed an improved chance of having a baby.

The findings indicated that relying on age alone "may provide misleading live birth outcome probabilities for a large portion of patients", said the researchers.

Co-author Dr Lynn Westphal, from Stanford's Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Centre, said a woman's decision to repeat IVF was influenced by a number of factors including cost and the chances of becoming pregnant.

"Many patients, even if they have insurance coverage, will drop out - either because they don't understand what their odds are or they find it's a very emotionally challenging experience to go through."

Indian Rupee finally gets its symbol

Finally, the Rupee will have a symbol like the Dollar ($) or the Euro (€) or the Pound (£). The Cabinet today finalised the design for the Rupee.

IIT post-graduate Uday kumar's entry has been selected out of five shortlisted designs as the new symbol for the Indian Rupee.

The government had organised a symbol design competition with a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh. Five designs were shortlisted from a competition and all new notes will bear the design finally approved.

The growing influence of the Indian economy in the global space is said to have prompted this move that will result in the Indian rupee joining the select club of global currencies like the US dollar, the British Pound, European Euro and Japanese Yen that have unique symbols.

The abbreviation for the Indian Rupee, 'Re' or 'Rs' is used by India's neighbours Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

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