Why one is quite enough
Single embryos may hold the key to successful IVF treatment
(sz) Last week (changed – ed.) the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said that we needed to reduce the number of hazardous multiple births caused by IVF.
Only 1 or 2 in every 100 natural conceptions results in twins; with IVF, the figure is 23 in every 100. The HFEA estimates that the deaths of 126 IVF twins could have been avoided had they been born singly. It is now consulting on the issue.
Multiple embryo transfer has always been justified on the ground that it maximises the chances of pregnancy. But research in 2004, involving 660 women in Scandinavian countries, began what was to become a torrent of evidence demonstrating that using one good-quality embryo can be as successful in assuring pregnancy as using two.
Some people claim these findings apply only to younger mothers, and insist that a single-embryo policy would be disastrous for older women. But last year a Finnish study showed that a similar rate of women over 36 and under 36 became pregnant with single replacement embryos – as long as they were carefully selected.
Significantly, this research comes from countries where adequate publicly funded IVF is available. And here lies the root of the reason why multiple embryo transfer has become so commonplace.
There is a tendency among some people to blame those who need IVF; they say it’s their fault for having children so late. But the truth is that many women have babies later because their plans didn’t work out as they thought. more…
From: »The Times«