varoblog

(sz) TO THE one British couple in seven that has problems conceiving, twins sound like a dream come true. So when would-be parents turn to in vitro fertilisation (IVF), they almost always opt to have as many embryos returned to the womb as they are legally allowed (two, or three if the woman is over 40), even though they know that multiple births are especially risky. The result is that two-fifths of IVF babies are twins. And fertility treatment is now so common that it is distorting the nation’s demographics (see chart): around a quarter of all twins have been conceived in a petri dish.
Sharing a womb is not an ideal start to life. Twins who survive their much higher rates of miscarriage are often born early and small, which puts them at higher risk of cerebral palsy, low IQ and even death during their first year. Their expectant mothers are more prone to high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems. Around half of all twins are transferred to intensive-care units soon after birth.
Now the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which licenses fertility clinics in England and Wales, has decided enough is enough. On April 4th it started a three-month consultation on changes in the way fertility treatment is carried out. The new rules, due to come into force in October, aim to halve the number of twin IVF pregnancies. more…

From: »The Economist« (from the print edition)

(sz) NATALLIE EVANS said she felt distraught, and she looked it. Made infertile by treatment for ovarian cancer in 2001, she had just lost her last chance of giving birth to her own child. On April 10th the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld a series of English court decisions, ruling that she had no right to use frozen embryos, formed before her treatment by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) of her still-healthy eggs with the sperm of her then fiancé, without the man’s consent.
Under English law, both partners are required to give consent before embryos are created and again when they are implanted to try to produce a baby. But either party can withdraw consent to continued IVF treatment up to the time of the embryo’s implantation in the womb. Howard Johnson, Ms Evans’s former partner, decided to exercise that right after the couple split up five years ago. The six embryos they made together will now probably be destroyed.
Mr Johnson said he had always insisted he did not want the emotional or financial burden of fathering a child he would not be bringing up. He should be free to choose when and with whom to start a family, he asserted. But Ms Evans argued that, because of her greater “physical and emotional expenditure” in the IVF process, her wishes should take precedence. The embryos’ right to life and her own right to a family life were being violated by Mr Johnson’s decision to withdraw his consent, she claimed. But the judges said they did not consider that her right to become the mother of a baby that was genetically hers deserved greater respect than Mr Johnson’s right not to have a child with her. more…

From: »The Economist« (from the print edition)

(sz) LOS ANGELES, CA — It is well known that a woman’s age increases her risk of her having a child with Down’s syndrome. Now, a study presented here at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting suggests that children with Down’s syndrome have a greater risk of developing leukaemia if their mother underwent any kind of fertility treatment.
In this study, the risk of leukaemia, specifically acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), was 2.5 times greater (odd ratio = 2.47, 95% CI, 1.02 - 5.97) among children with Down’s syndrome whose mothers had tried to conceive for more than a year, according to Susan Puumala, PhD candidate in childhood cancers, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.
Among mothers who had undergone surgical fertility treatments (including in vitro fertilisation) the odds ratio increased to 2.78, the researcher said in an interview. more…

From: »Doctor’s Guide«

(sz) The increasing number of multiple births has led to the UK’s fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA’s) decision to consider limiting the number of fertilised embryos allowed to be implanted during in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Met with mixed results, doctors and health professionals have generally supported the idea, stating that multiple pregnancies can put both the mother and her babies at increased medical risk.
However, infertility experts and some mothers’ groups have condemned the proposals, stating that if they were allowed to go through, the ruling would lower the chances for women who used IVF to try and become pregnant. more…

From:»Bounty News« (UK)

(wz) Fertility treatment could be used to boost Britain’s falling birth rate, a study has found.
Researchers compared birth rates in the UK and other countries where access to IVF is limited to those in Denmark where it is much more readily available.
Unlike the US and most of Europe, Denmark has a birth rate of around 1.9 children per woman, close to replacement levels of 2.1 babies, and this is in spite of the fact that the average age at which Danish women have children is rising.
In some nations, birth rates have fallen as low as 1.3 babies per woman – well below the rate needed to maintain populations. more…

From: »www.lse.co.uk (LifeStyleExtra)«

(wz) Ethik paradox. Das deutsche Embryonenrecht führt bei der in vitro-Fertilisation zu Resultaten, die keinem internationalen Vergleich Stand halten. Im Reagenzglas tobt der Moralkrieg. Dabei steht der Wunsch der betroffenen Eltern nach schneller und sicher Erfüllung des Kinderwunsches erstmal hinten an.
Der Brief, den die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe (DGGG) und der Dachverband für Reproduktionsbiologie und -medizin (DVR) im vergangenen Herbst an die Regierungen der Bundesländer geschrieben haben, war deutlich: Alle Welt schreie nach mehr Kindern, aber die, die etwas gegen die Kinderarmut tun wollten, würden durch das deutsche Recht systematisch ausgebremst, so der Tenor.
Verbot mit Nebenwirkungen
Der Frust der Frauenärzte richtet sich einerseits gegen die letzte Gesundheitsreform, die die Erstattungsfähigkeit der reproduktionsmedizinischen Behandlung stark eingeschränkt hat. Vor allem aber wehren sich die Mediziner gegen das deutsche Embryonenschutzgesetz. Es untersagt nach gängiger Auslegung bei der in vitro-Fertilisation die Erzeugung von mehr als drei Embryonen und die Auswahl von einem oder zwei Embryonen, die schließlich in die Gebärmutter eingebracht werden. Diese Strenge ist Folge des Grundgedankens des Embryonenschutzgesetzes, wonach Embryonen schützenswertes Leben seien und also nicht im Überschuss erzeugt werden dürfen. Nach Auffassung der Reproduktionsmediziner hat diese Rechtslage erhebliche Nebenwirkungen für die Paare mit Kinderwunsch. So sei die Erfolgsquote der IVF in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich dramatisch niedrig. Mehr noch: Wenn eine Schwangerschaft erreicht wird, dann bekommt das Paar in Deutschland überdurchschnittlich häufig Mehrlinge. “Auf diese Weise wird die Gesundheit der Mutter und der meist zu früh geborenen Mehrlinge erheblich gefährdet”, sagte Professor Klaus Diedrich, Reproduktionsmediziner aus Lübeck, auf der letzten Jahrestagung der DGGG. Denn die Komplikationsrate bei Mehrlingsgeburten ist höher, das Sterberisiko der Mutter steigt. more…

From: »doccheck.com«

(wz) Anders als Louise Brown, das erste Retortenbaby der Welt aus England, meidet Deutschlands erster durch künstliche Befruchtung gezeugter Mensch bis heute die Öffentlichkeit. Damals war Oliver W. eine Sensation. (12.04.2007, 12:20 Uhr)
München - Viel ist von ihm nicht bekannt. Dass der im oberfränkischen Langensendelbach aufgewachsene Oliver W. sich zum stattlichen Mann entwickelt hat, dies berichten Bekannte. Als Beruf hat er Installateur gelernt. Am Montag wird W. nun 25 Jahre alt. Er kann dann auch darauf anstoßen, als erfolgreicher Praxistest einer medizinischen Kunst die Türen geöffnet zu haben, die hierzulande inzwischen fast 100.000 Menschenleben ermöglichte. Allerdings hat die Gesundheitsreform der so genannten In-Vitro-Fertilisation (IVF) inzwischen schwer zugesetzt.
Als Oliver W. am 16. April um 14:49 Uhr in der Frauenklinik in Erlangen per Kaiserschnitt auf die Welt kam, klangen nicht nur auf der Entbindungsstation die Sektgläser. 53 Zentimeter groß und 4150 Gramm schwer war die damalige Sensation, die der Frauenarzt Siegfried Trotnow ermöglicht hatte. more…

From: »Der Tagesspiegel« (online)

(wz) NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For infertile couples undergoing assisted reproduction when only a single egg is retrieved, a conventional in vitro fertilization approach is adequate when semen quality is good, research suggests.
In fact, semen quality should be the most important determinant when considering which fertilization technique to use, specialists from the US and Israel advise in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility.
The choice is between intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which a single sperm is injected into the egg under a microscope, or conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF), which essentially places the egg with semen in a test tube.
Dr. Jacob Levron from The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. and colleagues compared the success rate of ICSI and conventional IVF with a single egg in couples with good and poor sperm quality. more…

From:»Reuters International«

(sz) Having babies by in vitro fertilization seems like a personal or scientific matter _ the longing for a baby and the skill of petri dish procreation.
But it’s also a workplace issue. Almost two-thirds of Americans get their medical coverage through their employers, and studies say fewer than one in five employers covers the procedure. Its costs quickly top $20,000.
Now comes Resolve, a national group advocating for more fertility coverage, with a new pitch: Employers, if you add in vitro coverage, you will save money.
In a survey released last summer by Resolve, 91 percent of employers with the coverage said they saw no increase in their medical costs. The full report, by William M. Mercer consultants, also quoted a recent New England Journal of Medicine article that said the 14 states with mandatory infertility insurance had lower rates of multiple births, and the higher risks of expensive complications that come with them.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is considering adding the coverage as early as next year. “With respect to some of the research out there, including the Resolve organization’s, we’re reviewing all of it very closely,” said Jan Hennings, a spokeswoman for the insurer. “We’ve actually been looking at this for quite some time.” more…

From: »ScrippsNews«

(sz) As Congress and the Bush administration remain deadlocked over funding for stem cell research, three new Democratic governors have joined other state leaders in supporting the controversial science.
Last week, New York’s Eliot Spitzer won legislative approval for $600 million for stem cell research and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts began trying to undo a state regulation that hinders the research there. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signed a law in February repealing that state’s ban on the nascent science.
All three - newcomers to the governor’s mansion — pledged to support stem cell research in their election campaigns. They join a half-dozen other governors from both parties - including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell (R), Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) — who have backed the research for its promised medical breakthroughs and potential economic rewards. more…

From: »Kansas City InfoZine News«