Article in UK press:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20101102/tuk-women-due-to-give-birth-in-new-ivf-t-dba1618.html
CCRM randomised control trial:
CCRM randomised control trial:
http://www.colocrm.com/NewsEvents/10-02-12/Randomized_Control_Trial_for_Blastocyst_Comprehensive_Chromosome_Screening.aspx
Blastocyst Chromosome Screening (BCS) can spot chromosomal mistakes in outwardly normal-looking embryos that may prevent pregnancies or lead to miscarriages. It is still in the trial stage but if successful, it could help increase the IVF success rates as it will help doctors to pick out the 'best' embryos. The trials run so far have focused on the female age bracket 35 to 45 it seems (late thirties in the UK and 38 to 45 in the US).
There is one thing to be said about IVF and it is that innovation trail blazes on. I had never heard of BCS and I thought that my research on IVF was fairly thorough - clearly not! ;) I picked up on this new technology recently in the UK press referring to the first trials in Europe but it is already being done in the US as part of a trial at CCRM - see the second link above.
Back in February of this year, CCRM as part of its notice calling for people to take part in a randomised control trial said that preliminary results from their initial phase trials indicated higher implantation rates, lower miscarriage rates and higher live birth rates following BCS.
I don't know where the UK press take their following statement from, "evidence from the US suggests the procedure can boost the chances of a viable pregnancy after In-Vitro Fertilisation from around 35 to 75 per cent" but if true it is not insignificant.
Blastocyst Chromosome Screening (BCS) can spot chromosomal mistakes in outwardly normal-looking embryos that may prevent pregnancies or lead to miscarriages. It is still in the trial stage but if successful, it could help increase the IVF success rates as it will help doctors to pick out the 'best' embryos. The trials run so far have focused on the female age bracket 35 to 45 it seems (late thirties in the UK and 38 to 45 in the US).
There is one thing to be said about IVF and it is that innovation trail blazes on. I had never heard of BCS and I thought that my research on IVF was fairly thorough - clearly not! ;) I picked up on this new technology recently in the UK press referring to the first trials in Europe but it is already being done in the US as part of a trial at CCRM - see the second link above.
Back in February of this year, CCRM as part of its notice calling for people to take part in a randomised control trial said that preliminary results from their initial phase trials indicated higher implantation rates, lower miscarriage rates and higher live birth rates following BCS.
I don't know where the UK press take their following statement from, "evidence from the US suggests the procedure can boost the chances of a viable pregnancy after In-Vitro Fertilisation from around 35 to 75 per cent" but if true it is not insignificant.
So what is my lesson learnt? Well, the very institutions themselves will not always tell you about these trials they are running - I am not sure why - but having done an IVF at a CCRM sister clinic I do wonder why they did not tell us about this trial; perhaps we did not fulfil all the criteria? What I would say to anyone out there in the 35 to 40 age bracket is to ask about this! I do not know if it is the answer to your prayers but it is worth asking the doctors about.
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