Progress Educational Trust conference: Making the grade

The third session of the Progress Educational Trust's annual conference 'The Best Possible Start in Life: The Robust and Responsive Embryo' boasted a redoubtable roll-call of eminent clinicians and researchers as speakers. This being the case, I couldn't help wondering if the decision to limit such luminaries to ten minutes apiece was a wise one...[Read More]

Sperm, smoking, screening and more

Some of the highlights from the 27th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction (ESHRE) in Stockholm include good news for sperm donation in the UK; advice about how to reduce the effects of tobacco on unborn children; a 'non invasive' screening technique for chromosomal abnormalities in embryos; and a mathematical model to help reduce multiple births in IVF procedures...[Read More]

Ovarian stimulation linked to egg abnormalities in older mothers

European researchers have linked ovarian stimulation in women aged over 35 to increased chromosomal abnormalities. Genetic screening shows that the production of oocytes is disrupted during fertility treatment involving ovarian stimulation...[Read More]

New PGD technology guidelines published for the genetic testing of IVF embryos

The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) has published an updated set of best practice guidelines for fertility clinics on the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) techniques...[Read More]

Study shows preimplantation screening is safe for singletons

The first large-scale study of genetic screening of embryos before implantation, published in January's issue of the journal Human Reproduction, has shown that the procedures used are safe for children born in single pregnancies....[Read More]

Is cross-border reproductive care a problem, and for whom?

As a clinician based in the UK, one cannot fail to be aware that some patients seek fertility treatments abroad. Until now we only had newspaper headlines or anecdotal evidence, but having presented the results of the first European study in Amsterdam at the annual ESHRE conference (1), we may now base our reflections on some facts, even if selected by the voluntary nature of participating colleagues and centres abroad....[Read More]

PGS: It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it...and that's what gets results

Embryo selection following cleavage stage embryo biopsy and chromosome analysis to identify aneuploid embryos (those which have an abnormal number of chromosomes) in every couple having IVF/ICSI or all women of advanced maternal age is rightly considered by most clinics to be too invasive and potentially damaging for routine...[Read More]

Embryo screening linked to lower IVF success rates

A technique used to select IVF embryos most likely to implant and develop could actually reduce success rates, according to a study by Dutch researchers. Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) involves removing a single cell from an IVF embryo and testing it for the presence of chromosome...[Read More]

FISHing for trouble?

Make a habit of two things - to help, or at least to do no harm' (Attr Hippokrates of Kos). The principle of preimplantation testing for sporadic chromosome aneuploidy (preimplantation genetic screening, PGS) to improve the reproductive efficiency of assisted conception for couples at increased risk is a sound one. It...[Read More]

PGS: select or reject? - it's not just about improving pregnancy rates

Ten years since the first reports of preimplantation genetic diagnosis for abnormal chromosome number, or aneuploidy, (now commonly known as PGS - preimplantation genetic screening), we are experiencing a prejudicial mistrust of a clinical approach that is generally accepted to be scientifically and clinically sound. Opponents of PGS frequently criticise its...[Read More]

Progress towards embryo stem cell therapies

One of the key obstacles to getting human embryonic stem (ES) cell therapies 'from the bench to the bedside' has been overcome, according to UK researcher Roger Pedersen of the University of Cambridge. Speaking at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)'s annual research conference, Professor Pederson said that...[Read More]

Half of all IVF embryos could have genetic errors

Around half of all the eggs produced by both older and younger women could have genetic errors, three new US studies suggest. The findings, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Montreal, Canada, have lead to calls from some fertility experts to screen...[Read More]

Call to screen all IVF embryos for abnormalities

Testing embryos for chromosomal abnormalities before they are returned to the womb can dramatically improve the 'take home baby rate' for some patients, according to a US fertility doctor. Speaking at the Sixth International Symposium on Preimplantation Genetics, held in London last week, Yury Verlinsky of the Reproductive Genetics Institute...[Read More]

Experts discuss overlap between genetics and infertility

Experts in clinical genetics and assisted reproduction met last week to discuss issues that affect both areas of medicine, such as embryo testing, genetic causes of infertility, possible long term effects of assisted reproduction techniques, counselling concerns and European regulations. The workshop, held at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies...[Read More]

Achieving international regulations on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

It comes as no surprise that a British couple have used embryo screening at a clinic in Chicago to conceive a child who could act as a compatible bone marrow donor for his or her brother with leukaemia. If there are professionally approved clinics that are willing and able under...[Read More]

Embryo screening could boost older women's fertility

Fertility doctors are claiming that a new method of treating women over the age of 37 could give them a much improved chance of having healthy children through in vitro fertilisation. The success rate of IVF drops in women as they reach their mid-30s - as the quality of their...[Read More]