Mumbai: A new technology `IVF ViaMetrics-E`
has been installed at the Lilavati hospital, the first of its
kind in Asia, here in a bid to reduce multiple pregnancies in
Invitro fertilisation procedures (Test tube babies procedure).
The US technology, which is able to identify viable and
healthy embryos non-invasively and helps to avoid multiple
pregnancy, was today inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister
Ashok Chavan.
Molecular Biometrics Inc (MBI), which is a metabolomics
company based in the USA, along with its Indian partner
Trivector Scientific International has commercially launched
the `IVF ViaMetrics-E` which "is a rapid non-invasive
procedure for embryo viability assessment. It thereby helps
IVF clinicians identify embryos with the highest reproductive
potential," the company CEO James Posillico said.
"This procedure is designed to increase the success rates
of IVF pregnancies and lowers the chances of multiple
pregnancies and associated health risks and costs that the
couple may incur as a result of multiple births," he said.
This technology marks a significant breakthrough in the
field of IVF which has not seen any developments since 1993.
"MBI`s technology has met with success in other countries
of the EU, Japan and Australia and the company is now looking
to bring the same to India," Posicillico said.
Lilavati hospital IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) centre,
headed by Dr Hrishikesh Pai and Dr Nandita Palshetkar, is
being run for the 20 years and the new technology will assist
the couple in improving pregnancy results by 15 to 20 per cent
and save money and time by reducing the number of cycles to
obtain a single healthy embryo, Posillico said.
The side effects of multiple pregnancy and the
inconvenience to the couples due to their unwanted pregnancies
can been reduced through IVF ViaMetrics-E, Posillico said.
"We, at Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai, are the first in Asia
to have installed this technology `ViaMetrics` which assesses
embryos with respect to their viability and implantation
potential. The availability of metabolic profiling will
empower doctors to shift from multiple embryo transfer to
single embryo transfer," Pai said.
PTI
