Category: IVF Treatment

IVF Treatment, UK

UK – Thousands of couples could be spared gruelling IVF with new 5p-sized device that spots infertility before any unnecessary treatment

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Doctors and engineers at the University of Southampton have created a sensor the size of a 5p piece that could diagnose the cause of unexplained infertility.

Infertility is a huge problem in Britain, with one in six couples struggling to conceive. 

Yet in a third of infertility cases doctors can find no cause.

So thousands of couples turn to expensive and difficult IVF in a bid to start a family. 

Of the 68,000 cycles of IVF conducted in the UK every year, 32 per cent, more than 22,000, have no diagnosis of the cause of the infertility. 

But the Southampton team believe their new device, which is to undergo its first major NHS-backed trial next year, could plug this gap and bring down the number of couples undergoing unnecessary IVF.

Read more

Donor Eggs, IVF Treatment, Sperm Donor, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Women seeking cheap fertility treatment abroad

Intended Parents

Source:  The Times

methodetimesprodwebbin1f59a20a-1cb6-11e8-9010-1eef6ba5d3de
Women travelled for conventional IVF treatments, egg donation and surrogacy services SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/GETTY IMAGES

More than 3,000 women travel abroad for cheap assisted human reproduction treatments every year, a leading fertility doctor has estimated.

Dr John Kennedy, medical director of Virtus Health, the largest provider of fertility services in Ireland, said the figure included those who travelled to get conventional IVF treatments, egg donation and surrogacy services.

He said it was difficult to get exact figures because some women travelled without informing their fertility doctors, but that 3,000 was a reasonable estimate. The average cost of a cycle of IVF in Ireland is between €5,000 and €7,000, but can cost less than €3,000 in some eastern European countries. Dr Kennedy said these countries were always going to be cheaper, but there could be differences in quality of care.

Read more