London: A new technique that screens embryos for genetic faults and greatly increases the chance of IVF success, would be a boon for lakhs of women struggling to have children, experts have said.
Doctors at an annual US fertility meeting heard for the
second year running of the merits of a test that screens
embryos for genetic faults. So far more than 20 babies have
been born using the technique.
According to a BBC report, doctors believe the 2,000
pounds test, called comparative genomic hybridisation or CGH,
will be particularly useful to older women, whose embryos have
a greater risk of carrying genetic errors that cause
conditions like Down`s syndrome.
The UK researchers say they are now able to back the
method with "great confidence" and they hope it will
eventually be available to all, the report said, adding
currently, it is offered in a few private UK clinics.
The screening checks chromosomes in the developing embryo
when it is a few days old, meaning only those embryos with the
best chance of success are used in fertility treatment, Pacey
said.
Dr Dagan Wells from Oxford University, who led the study,
described the latest results on 115 women - six times as many
as last year - as "astonishing".
The results are particularly impressive as many of the
women were on their "last chance" at IVF - they were typically
aged 39 with two failed IVF cycles behind them.
In total, 66 per cent of the women fell pregnant after
screening - more than double the number (28 per cent) who
typically fall pregnant without it, the report added.
Dr Wells told the American Society of Reproductive
Medicine`s annual conference: "We were taken aback by the
impact it had on the success rates. I think it`s at the point
now that we can say with great confidence that we are seeing a
positive effect of this."
Around 37,00 women undergo IVF every year in the UK and
less than one in four of these procedures is successful.
Allan Pacey of the British Fertility Society said:
"Embryology is really crying out for something like this. We
really haven`t moved on from the science of just looking down
the microscope and seeing if an embryo looks good on the basis
of some rather loose criteria."
Susan Seenan, from Infertility Network UK, said: "We
welcome all new research which may ultimately improve the
success rates of IVF for patients. Although this is still in
very early stages, it could be of great benefit to older women
whose chances of success with IVF treatment is lower".
"It is also welcome given the move towards single embryo
transfer in the UK and the lack of NHS funding which often,
unfairly, means that patients are being denied access to the
three cycles which the NICE guidance recommended in 2004,"
Seenan added.
Bureau Report