|
Our commitment to a healthier and safer pregnancy for you
The single biggest risk arising from Assisted Fertility Treatment is multiple pregnancy, with the increase in the risk of stillbirth, late miscarriage, premature delivery, neonatal death and disability in the newborn. There is also the increased risk of dangerous complications for the mother, such as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, and gestational diabetes. We strongly recommend you visit the www.oneatatime.org.uk website for more information on the risks involved.
Since 2009 the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has required all fertility clinics in the UK to have a Multiple Birth Minimisation Strategy in place. The HFEA has ordered fertility clinics to cut their multiple births in stages over these past few years from an average of 25% to the current 2012 requirement of no more than 15%.
From October 2012 the limit is further reduced to just 10% or less.
To comply we have had to implement a strong policy for the elective transfer of a single embryo in cases where the prognosis for achieving a pregnancy is good.
The good news is that Single Embryo Transfer (SET) does not adversely affect your chances of IVF success, as we have a well established and extremely successful Blastocyst Programme.
Our current policy is to transfer just one Blastocyst for all patients under the age of 38 yrs, regardless of the number of previous attempts. Data modeling from our database demonstrates that these groups of patients with Blastocyst transfer have very good success rates but exceptionally high multiple birth rates. We are therefore confident that even by restricting the number of embryos replaced to just a single embryo, we will not detrimentally reduce your pregnancy outcome, regardless of the number of attempts you may have had previously.
The graphs below show clearly the success of our policy. In Table 1 you can see that the clinical pregnancy rate is only marginally improved with the transfer of 2 blastocysts but clearly not significant to justify the transfer of two.
Table 1
Table 2 shows the success rates for all patients having a single embryo transfer on their first, second or third attempt where the outcome again is only marginally affected with still exceptionally high chances of pregnancy on the third attempt.
Table 2.
Who will have a Blastocyst Transfer?
The transfer of Blastocysts allows us to replace embryos that have naturally been selected as having a higher potential to implant. Very few embryos generated in IVF have a full potential to develop into pregnancies and so it is important to select the best through this process of extended culture. In most cases, we just need two top quality embryos on Day 3 to progress you to the Blastocyst transfer programme. Currently about 60% of our patients under the age of 38 yrs have a Blastocyst transfer. If you are under 38 yrs old and have 2 top quality embryos on day 3 (at the 6-8 cell stage) and you are not being pushed for a Blastocyst transfer we will still transfer just one embryo because you have a high prognosis for a achieving a pregnancy.
What should you do if you have concerns with our policy?
We are very strict with our Multiple Birth Minimisation Strategy, not only because of the HFEA stringent guidelines, but because history shows us that patients who do not comply with our policy have detrimental outcomes in terms of multiple pregnancy and the increased risks entailed.
If you have concerns with this policy you must share them with a member of staff immediately. Please do not wait until the point of embryo transfer. Our staff are confident in the policy we have created and believe it is correct, successful and with our patients’ best interests at heart. They are extremely competent to deal with any of your questions.
Our aim is to make sure you have the safest and healthiest pregnancy in the quickest possible time.
|