New hope for IVF couples
(cz) When IVF treatment fails or ends in miscarriage, it is heartbreaking for infertile couples. It is also disappointing for their doctors, not least because the reason for many such failures is well understood.
In between half and three quarters of cases, the cause is an embryo with abnormal chromosomes. A test for identifying these problems, known as pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS), has existed for several years. But while some scientists claim it can lead to dramatic improvements in IVF success, professional bodies have been unconvinced. Both the British Fertility Society and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) currently advise against using PGS outside clinical trials. However, they may soon have to change their tune.
The main justification for this scepticism was a study from the Netherlands published 18 months ago, which found that PGS actually reduces success rates. The procedure involves removing a cell from an early embryo for genetic analysis, and this, it seemed, was causing excessive damage. The paper’s impact was such that some doctors even declared PGS a dead end.
That was never a particularly sound conclusion - the Dutch team’s methods have been criticised, and its lack of experience handling embryos could have accounted for the poor outcomes. And it is becoming less tenable all the time. At ASRM’s conference in San Francisco this week, it was hard to escape the feeling that the mood is changing decisively. Advocates of PGS have always claimed that in their own experience, it works. They are now starting to produce data to match and exciting new technologies that promise still greater improvements to IVF. more…
From: »The Times«