Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have
found that 85 percent of embryos transferred during in vitro fertilization
fail to become live births, highlighting the need for improving diagnostic
techniques to identify viable embryos.
Published in the August issue of Fertility and Sterility, the study
reviewed seven years of U.S. statistics from all the fertility clinics
that report data on reproductive techniques. Director of the Yale Fertility
Center, Pasquale Patrizio, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics,
Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences led the project.
“ Something in nature has decided that these implanted embryos
are not viable,”
said Patrizio, who conducted the study with co-author
George Kovalevsky, M.D.
“ We as practitioners in the reproductive clinic are in a
paradoxical situation,” Patrizio added. “There
is pressure to reduce multiple births, but we need to do so knowing
that the majority of the
embryos that are transferred do not implant. It is difficult to strike
a balance between these two needs.”
Patrizio said he and his fellow physicians strive to better identify
the embryos with the most potential. But addressing the growing pressure
to transfer fewer embryos to reduce multiple births is a difficult task
unless they can come up with a method in the lab to identify the best
embryos.
“ Some potential methods for screening embryos include using
pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and biochemical markers of embryo
viability,” said
Patrizio.
“ In addition this study should also move
the field toward perfecting methods of egg production.”
Citation: Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 84, No. 2, 325-530 (August 2005).
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