IVF study gives fresh hope to older women
Summary of story from the Independent, January 12, 2012
Two embryos are better than one for maximising the chances of an IVF baby, according to one of the largest studies of success rates at fertility clinics.
Transferring two embryos raises the risk of a twin birth – the greatest hazard in fertility treatment – but researchers say that, for older women, the risk could be worth taking.
Since 2008, clinics have been restricted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to offering their patients only single embryos in order to reduce the risks of multiple births.
The policy has worked and the multiple birth rate is down to 18 per cent for IVF clinics nationally while live birth rates have steadily risen.
But the study, by Professor Debbie Lawlor and colleagues at the Medical Research Council in Bristol, found that women over 40, who have the lowest chance of having a baby, have a low risk of a multiple birth as they are less likely to carry a twin pregnancy to term.
They conclude in The Lancet that “greater freedom” should be given to clinicians and patients “to decide whether to transfer one or two embryos.”
The HFEA pointed out that clinics were not banned from transferring two embryos but were required to select patients carefully and to demonstrate that they had a “strategy” to reduce their multiple-birth rate.