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The Future of IVF
What Is Minimal Stimulation?
By Kelly Burgess
It sounds too good to be true: IVF without painful injections, debilitating side effects, multiple births or the dilemma of how to deal with leftover embryos. The good news is that this technology exists; it's called minimal stimulation in vitro fertilization (MS IVF), and it's been in use for some time in countries such as Japan and The Netherlands. The bad news is that in America, it may be a while before the competitive, market-based infertility industry makes MS IVF a viable and easily obtainable alternative to traditional in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Because fertilization and implantation don't always occur, the focus on IVF is to produce as many eggs as possible in each cycle, thus increasing the possibility of having sufficient eggs for fertilization and implantation. There are several drawbacks to this approach, including an increased risk of multiple pregnancies, the side-effects from the powerful drugs used to stimulate ovulation and the moral/ethical implications of leftover embryos. Traditional IVF is also expensive, averaging $12,400 per procedure, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. A large part of that expense is due to the high cost of the injectible fertility drugs.
The reason people make the physical, financial and emotional investment is the undisputed fact that IVF helps many women achieve pregnancy every year. There is a great deal of controversy over the manner in which fertility clinics compute and report their success rates, but the Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2003, the most recent year full data is available, the success rate of IVF can be as high as 37 percent in women younger than 35.
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Re: The Future of IVF by Jennifer on 08/24/2009 12:31AM
IVF is an amazing gift to those who are unable to conceive naturally. What is unfortunate is that there are those who try to limit science and medical advances.
Re: The Future of IVF by G on 06/23/2009 01:07PM
It's unfortunate that so much of the world finds IVF an acceptible method for achieving pregnancy. It violates the right of the child to be born out of an act of love. It turns the child into a right rather than a gift. It has a high failure rate, which means fertilized embryos (a.k.a. human lives) perish in the process. Those that don't perish are suspended indefinitely in liquid nitrogen - a grave violation of their right to live. My heart goes out to those who have trouble achieving pregnancy. As a father myself, I can't imagine what pain there must be in wanting to conceive and not being able to. But such pain, no matter how great, can never justify the use of IVF. It would be like achieving the good of material prosperity by killing someone and taking their possessions. The end result is good, but the method used for acheiving it is not.
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Re: The Future of IVF by anonymous on 02/13/2010 04:12PM
I think it is unfortunate that one person tries to judge what another person does. If you don't agree, don't do it yourself, but you have no right to judge anyone else. Live and let live.