Latest figures on fertility treatment, birth rate and multiple births are released

Figures released by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority reveal the number of IVF cycles performed each year has continued to rise while the overall multiple pregnancy and birth rate has declined.... [Read More]

Asthma more likely in children born from infertility treatment

Children born as a result of fertility treatment are more likely to develop asthma, say scientists... [Read More]

Research shows infertility link to DNA damage in sperm

Small breaks in the DNA of a man's sperm may contribute to reduced pregnancy rates following IVF, according to research at Queen's University, Belfast.... [Read More]

Absolute risk is low but IVF babies 25 percent more likely to have birth defects

Infants conceived by IVF are at significantly greater risk of birth defects compared to naturally conceived babies, announced scientists at a conference last month... [Read More]

The egg that came in from the cold: ASRM lifts 'experimental' label from social egg freezing

After a decade of claiming that the technique was only applicable to young cancer patients whose treatment would render them prematurely infertile, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) has decided that vitrification and warming of unfertilised oocytes followed by fertilisation by ICSI results in acceptable subsequent pregnancy rates... [Read More]

Infertility and IVF: Results of patient survey show educating GPs is the best way forward

Last summer the National Infertility Awareness Campaign (NIAC) launched its most comprehensive patient survey to date. The aim of the survey was to identify problems faced by people seeking NHS-funded fertility treatment... [Read More]

Obituary: Professor Samuel Lee

Sammy Lee, visiting professor in the Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London (UCL), since 2010, and visiting professor in biomedical science at the ABC Medical School in São Paulo, Brazil, an expert on fertility and in vitro fertilisation, passed away suddenly on 21 July 2012... [Read More]

IVF single embryo transfers have better chance of survival

Single embryo transfer reduces the risk of death within a month of birth for babies conceived via IVF, according to an Australian study... [Read More]

Coffee and saturated fats not good for IVF success, studies say

Drinking more than five cups of coffee a day or having a diet with too much saturated fat could adversely affect the chances of success of fertility treatment... [Read More]

Five million IVF babies born to date, study says

A study estimates that five million people worldwide have been born thanks to assisted reproductive technologies... [Read More]

Fertility treatment only partly responsible for increase in birth defects

The increase in birth defects in babies born after assisted conception could be partly due to underlying fertility problems, according to an Australian study... [Read More]

£3.4 million is a heck of a lot of money!

I was shocked when I heard the news that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has built up the princely sum of approximately £3.4 million in its bank account. The HFEA explains that this surplus has arisen over recent years due to prudent budgeting... [Read More]

Beyond the treatment of infertility

The advent of PGD extended the scope of IVF beyond the treatment of infertility. PGD is predominantly used to prevent transmission of genetic defects arising from mutations in nuclear DNA. However, it can also be used to reduce the risk of transmitting mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which cause a range of debilitating and life-threatening diseases... [Read More]

IVF funding cuts spark access concerns

The number of publicly funded IVF cycles dropped by nearly 14 percent this financial year in the UK, an investigation by the GP magazine Pulse has revealed... [Read More]

Rise in 'selective reproduction' due to increase in IVF, experts say

There has been a rise in the number of British women choosing to give birth to fewer children following multiple pregnancy, leading to renewed calls for restrictions on the number of embryos implanted during IVF.... [Read More]

IVF 'twins' born five years apart

Five-year-old Reuben Blake has already started school, but his twin sister Floren, conceived during the same IVF treatment cycle, has only just been born... [Read More]

Progress Educational Trust Conference: Growing Concern?

The consequences of assisted reproductive technology (ART) are a matter of great concern, whether this is the development of the embryo, the perinatal health of the mother, or the ongoing health of the child.... [Read More]

IVF treatment rises six percent in a year

There was a six percent rise last year in the number of fertility treatments carried out in the UK, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)... [Read More]

One Parent or Five – more of the same from the Commission on Parenthood's Future

'One Parent or Five: A global look at today's new intentional families' is the latest report from the Commission on Parenthood's Future (1). Authored by 'scholar Elizabeth Marquardt, a recognized family expert', it claims to offer 'the first-ever systematic critique of the concept of intentional parenthood [by] providing a global tour of today's new intentional families... [Read More]

A private sperm donor writes...

A shortfall in donated sperm, we are told, has pushed potential recipients onto websites where private sperm donors hawk their reproductive wares. If only the officially sanctioned sperm banks were well stocked, the thinking goes, women would not have to venture into that murky world. But is that correct? What if sperm donation outside the official channels actually carried certain advantages over the clinic system... [Read More]