Just keeping us as informed as possible.... this may be the answer for those of us who always have 40+ follies!

New IVF treatment promises better results without drug risks

January 1, 2007

Scientists have unveiled a new form of IVF which they claim is "better than nature" at getting some women pregnant and does not need high doses of potentially harmful hormones.

The method, which involves harvesting immature eggs and growing them outside the body, reduces the need to pump women with hormones to mature the eggs internally. It has resulted in 400 healthy babies in Denmark and won the backing of Bob Edwards, the British scientist who in 1978 helped to create the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown.

Although the in vitro maturation (IVM) method has been discussed for years, the Danish doctors were the first to use it successfully on a large scale and track the results. A healthy 30-year-old woman who has regular periods has a 20 per cent chance of getting pregnant through intercourse each month, but the group who received the new treatment had a success rate of 30 per cent, they found.

The eggs are removed from the woman's ovaries before they are fully developed, then small quantities of hormones are applied in the laboratory to mature them. They are then fertilised before being implanted back in the womb, as in regular IVF. The treatment avoids the need to give women hormones to help them produce extra eggs, then more to get them matured internally.

Svend Lindenberg, the Danish professor at the Nordic Fertility Centre in Copenhagen, which is testing the method, said: "The doctor now has a tool … which can minimise the risks involved in IVF. We now have a more comfortable treatment for women and we haven't seen any problems in any of the babies who have been born as a result."

Professor Lindenberg presented the research at a closed meeting of the International Society of Natural Cycle Assisted Reproduction in December.

Some scientists in Britain urged caution. Professor Alison Murdoch, of the Newcastle Fertility Centre, said: "IVM will be a fantastic thing to achieve but it won't be suitable for all women."

Guardian News & Media