New Screening Technique: Better Success Rates in IVF Cycles

A new screening technique developed by scientists of the National Institute for Health Research in the United Kingdom allows doctors to search for defects in chromosomes of embryos to ensure better success rates of IVF cycles. The new technique could considerably reduce the costs of fertilisation procedures by ensuring a higher success rate in fewer attempts and help patients save money in embryo testing.

The new method uses the latest advances in human genome sequencing to look for defects in IVF embryos. These defects cannot easily be seen in visual inspections under the microscope and, if they go unnoticed, they affect the success rate of the entire procedure. Abnormalities in the DNA can cause embryos to fail to implant in the mother’s womb or even cause unpredictable miscarriages.

But with the new method, fertility experts will be able to choose the right embryo to ensure a successful pregnancy which would otherwise be left to luck or subject to extra costs on top of those of an already expensive procedure. According to Dr Dagan Wells, from Oxford University, screening costs could be reduced by up to two thirds of existing methods. The screening has shown to improve the procedure’s success by around 30 per cent.

Dr Wells has already announced the discovery at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. However, the experts in charge of the discovery have assured that larger trials need to be carried out first to be more certain of the technique’s effectiveness.

Connor Levy: First baby to be born

Marybeth Scheidts and David Levy, a couple in the United States, have already had the first baby, Connor Levy, using IVF techniques complimented by the new embryo screening approach. In this case, only three of the 13 embryos produced were found suitable for artificial insemination procedures to succeed. After four years of failing to conceive, the American couple managed to experience a successful pregnancy on their first attempt after the new screening technique. Generally, only one in three attempts at IVF results in a normal pregnancy.

According to Dr Michael Glassner, a fertility doctor working at the Main Line Health System, techniques such as this one will soon become more common, especially if the price of the procedure is consistently reduced.