Paddy Shoot
09-02-2009, 06:39 PM
The world's first baby has been born in Britain following a new screening technique which experts believe could double the chances of successful fertility treatment.
Baby Oliver is the first child resulting from the treatment which examines eggs for abnormalities, which helps scientists select the best quality egg for fertility treatment.
The test could double the success rates of IVF, as it is thought one of the main reasons for failure to conceive and miscarriage is faults in the egg. If only perfect eggs are fertilised and implanted in the womb then the chances of pregnancy are increased.
The technique - called array Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (CGH) - was carried out at Care Fertility in Nottingham.
The parents, who have asked not to be named, had failed on 13 previous attempts at IVF.
Professor Simon Fishel, Managing Director of CARE Fertility Group, said: "Chromosomal abnormality plays a major part in the failure to establish a pregnancy.
"Full chromosome analysis may double the chance of success in couples who have a poor chance of conceiving or a history of failed treatments and miscarriage; and maximise the chance of pregnancy in all couples.
“Up to half of the eggs in younger women and up to 75 per cent in women over 39 are chromosomally abnormal. Array CGH is used to screen eggs or embryos in an IVF cycle, evaluate all the chromosomes and select the most chromosomally normal embryos."
He added: “All the team at CARE have been waiting for this very special baby to be born.
"Oliver’s birth is an important landmark in shaping our understanding of why many women fail to become pregnant.”
The test involves taking a sample of a 'spare' set of chromosomes that are expelled by the egg as it joins with the sperm.
The chromosomes are then compared against a set identified by the Human Genome Project that are proven to be normal.
It takes 48-hours to complete, meaning the eggs can be used fresh - further boosting the chances of success, instead of having to freeze them which can cause damage.
The method adds around £2,000 (€2,300) to the cost of a cycle of IVF treatment, which varies from around £3,000 (€3,400) to £6,000 (€6,800).
In one clinical trial run by Care the number of embryos successfully implanted in the womb rose from 25 per cent to 50 per cent following the screening. Two thirds of the pregnancies were carried to term with 26 out of 42 women having babies.
During the clinical trial, the samples taken from the eggs had to be sent to an American centre for the test to be carried out and the eggs had to be frozen in the meantime.
The technique has since been improved and can be processed faster, meaning the eggs do not have to be frozen while waiting for the test results.
This is now the first time the whole process has been carried out within the UK and the first time in the world the eggs have been used fresh instead of frozen and thawed.
Mr Tony Rutherford, Chair of the British Fertility Society, said: “Firstly, I would like to congratulate the team at CARE Fertility for their exciting research into the use of comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) as a means of pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS), and to wish both mother and baby well. The technology certainly offers much promise.
" However, whilst the BFS supports the application of new technologies such as array CGH, it is absolutely essential that these new techniques are subject to further rigorous research, and should only be offered to patients within the context of a robustly designed clinical trial, carried out in suitably experienced centres.
"The widespread use of this technology should await the outcome of such research to ensure we know which patients might benefit. All too often we see groundbreaking news about techniques that seem to offer great hope, but fail to live up to expectations when applied in widespread clinical practice.”
Prof Peter Braude, Head of the Department of Women’s Health, Kings College London, said: “I am delighted that this patient has achieved her positive outcome after so many years of trying.
"However we need to be cautious as to whether the new technique was responsible. There are many seemingly exciting new technologies for embryo screening that unfortunately, when subjected to proper randomised trials, have proved to be no better than no intervention at all.
"Sadly in some the PGS has been shown to be detrimental. I hope that this is not the case here and would love to see a positive outcome to rigorous analysis of this technique, but at the moment this can only be viewed as a potentially very lucky result.
"I am aware of a similar case where a patient had previously been unsuccessful with 12 IVF treatments, only to try again with a positive result, so we have to view each instance with a level of caution until we have the rigorous data that we need.”
News Source: http://www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/first-baby-born-from-screened-egg-1875906.html
Baby Oliver is the first child resulting from the treatment which examines eggs for abnormalities, which helps scientists select the best quality egg for fertility treatment.
The test could double the success rates of IVF, as it is thought one of the main reasons for failure to conceive and miscarriage is faults in the egg. If only perfect eggs are fertilised and implanted in the womb then the chances of pregnancy are increased.
The technique - called array Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (CGH) - was carried out at Care Fertility in Nottingham.
The parents, who have asked not to be named, had failed on 13 previous attempts at IVF.
Professor Simon Fishel, Managing Director of CARE Fertility Group, said: "Chromosomal abnormality plays a major part in the failure to establish a pregnancy.
"Full chromosome analysis may double the chance of success in couples who have a poor chance of conceiving or a history of failed treatments and miscarriage; and maximise the chance of pregnancy in all couples.
“Up to half of the eggs in younger women and up to 75 per cent in women over 39 are chromosomally abnormal. Array CGH is used to screen eggs or embryos in an IVF cycle, evaluate all the chromosomes and select the most chromosomally normal embryos."
He added: “All the team at CARE have been waiting for this very special baby to be born.
"Oliver’s birth is an important landmark in shaping our understanding of why many women fail to become pregnant.”
The test involves taking a sample of a 'spare' set of chromosomes that are expelled by the egg as it joins with the sperm.
The chromosomes are then compared against a set identified by the Human Genome Project that are proven to be normal.
It takes 48-hours to complete, meaning the eggs can be used fresh - further boosting the chances of success, instead of having to freeze them which can cause damage.
The method adds around £2,000 (€2,300) to the cost of a cycle of IVF treatment, which varies from around £3,000 (€3,400) to £6,000 (€6,800).
In one clinical trial run by Care the number of embryos successfully implanted in the womb rose from 25 per cent to 50 per cent following the screening. Two thirds of the pregnancies were carried to term with 26 out of 42 women having babies.
During the clinical trial, the samples taken from the eggs had to be sent to an American centre for the test to be carried out and the eggs had to be frozen in the meantime.
The technique has since been improved and can be processed faster, meaning the eggs do not have to be frozen while waiting for the test results.
This is now the first time the whole process has been carried out within the UK and the first time in the world the eggs have been used fresh instead of frozen and thawed.
Mr Tony Rutherford, Chair of the British Fertility Society, said: “Firstly, I would like to congratulate the team at CARE Fertility for their exciting research into the use of comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) as a means of pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS), and to wish both mother and baby well. The technology certainly offers much promise.
" However, whilst the BFS supports the application of new technologies such as array CGH, it is absolutely essential that these new techniques are subject to further rigorous research, and should only be offered to patients within the context of a robustly designed clinical trial, carried out in suitably experienced centres.
"The widespread use of this technology should await the outcome of such research to ensure we know which patients might benefit. All too often we see groundbreaking news about techniques that seem to offer great hope, but fail to live up to expectations when applied in widespread clinical practice.”
Prof Peter Braude, Head of the Department of Women’s Health, Kings College London, said: “I am delighted that this patient has achieved her positive outcome after so many years of trying.
"However we need to be cautious as to whether the new technique was responsible. There are many seemingly exciting new technologies for embryo screening that unfortunately, when subjected to proper randomised trials, have proved to be no better than no intervention at all.
"Sadly in some the PGS has been shown to be detrimental. I hope that this is not the case here and would love to see a positive outcome to rigorous analysis of this technique, but at the moment this can only be viewed as a potentially very lucky result.
"I am aware of a similar case where a patient had previously been unsuccessful with 12 IVF treatments, only to try again with a positive result, so we have to view each instance with a level of caution until we have the rigorous data that we need.”
News Source: http://www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/first-baby-born-from-screened-egg-1875906.html