Fertility treatment options for over 40s

Although some women are born with an intrinsic desire to have children, it can take others a little longer to get used to the idea of motherhood. In fact, many women don’t find themselves pining for a child until their late thirties or forties. However no experienced mummy can deny that when the overpowering urge to have a little baby takes hold, it’s difficult to think about anything else. Are you aged 40 plus? From IVF treatment and genetic testing to donor eggs, it’s not too late to have a baby. Discover the various fertility methods on offer and you could be planning that baby shower in a matter of weeks. IVF IVF is a series of procedures which are conducted in what is known as a ‘treatment cycle’. Using hormone therapy to stimulate the development of follicles in the ovary, IVF seeks to collect and fertilise eggs in a test tube to create embryos. The embryos spend up to a week in an incubator before being carefully examined using a high-tech grading system. The strongest embryos are selected to be transferred through the vagina to the uterus where this transfer will hopefully spark a pregnancy. Although success rates do dip with age, women up to the age of 50 have the choice of going ahead with IVF treatment using their own eggs. IVF with Genetic Testing It is a proven fact that the rate of genetic abnormalities and defects in eggs and embryos increases with age and up to 90% of pregnancies will encounter abnormalities over the age of 44. These findings are mostly clearly shown in the growing risk of Down’s syndrome which is observed in older mothers. Genetic testing is a sure fire way to plan for any eventuality. The test offers the most sophisticated techniques of aneuploidy screening and may be particularly useful for older women, or women who have had a previously unsuccessful IVF experience. Genetic testing can be used to: •Identify any chromosome abnormalities •Conduct genetic tests relating to infertility •Screen for over 100 of the most ubiquitous diseases •Improve pregnancy and live birth rates because only the embryos with normal chromosome arrangements will be chosen for transfer •Determine whether or not embryos are abnormal, enabling the patient to make an important decision about transfer and further treatment IVF with Donor Eggs IVF using donor eggs is the most common method of fertility treatment when the patient has none of her own eggs to use. This situation can often be attributed to the ovaries store of follicles running out due to old age. One of the most telling signs of menopause is irregular or non-existent periods at which point donor eggs may need to be considered. From collaborations with overseas clinics to donor eggs from IVF patients with resources to spare, your chosen fertility clinic will be able to provide you with a number of donor egg solutions should you want to pursue this option. Article: 15th February 2014 by The Bridge Centre Author Note: The Bridge Centre are a team of fertility experts based in South East London, specialising in fertility for the over 40s. Offering a wide range of fertility treatments to women under and over the age of 40, contact The Bridge Centre today to kick start your journey to motherhood.

IVF treatment by injecting sperm used too often by fertility clinics

A technique for injecting sperm directly into unfertilised eggs to increase the chances of a successful IVF pregnancy is being used too widely by some fertility clinics, the head of the Government's fertility watchdog has warned. Lisa Jardine, who chairs the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said that some IVF clinics are using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) simply because it is easier than standard IVF, rather than because it is in the best interests of patients. "We believe it is being used far too widely because it is procedurally easy," Professor Jardine said. "The scientists who advocate it already know that a boy born through ICSI is likely to have a low sperm count. So it is a little bit worrying that it is being rolled out so widely." She recently warned on BBC Radio 4 that success rates for couples, who typically spend around £15,000 for three cycles of treatment, are "discouragingly low". ICSI was first introduced about 20 years ago, since when its use has become widespread. In 2011, more than half of the nearly 62,000 cycles of fertility treatment, involving just over 48,000 women in Britain, were done with ICSI, rather than letting the sperm penetrate the egg naturally. In many other countries – in North America and Europe for instance – the figure is even higher, with ICSI being used in as many as 90 to 95 per cent of IVF cycles. Yet some studies suggest that IVF children born from ICSI may be at higher risk of medical problems as they grow older, including male infertility. "We know that babies born from ICSI have increased risk of some problems later in life and infertility is one of them," said Allan Pacey, chairman of the British Fertility Society and an IVF specialist at Sheffield University. "For these reasons we should be prudent over the use of ICSI. So let's use ICSI when it's needed, and not as some kind of guarantee against fertilisation failure, which is how some clinics approach it." Professor Jardine, who steps down as chair of the HFEA in the new year, said she shares the concerns of some experts, who believe that many fertility clinics are opting to use ICSI simply because it is easier to achieve rapid fertilisation of an egg, rather than using it specifically as a treatment for male infertility. About half of the couples given ICSI have male-related fertility problems, while about 12 per cent have joint male and female factors, and 10 per cent have specifically female fertility problems. In 20 per cent of cases, ICSI is used for "unexplained" reasons, according to data gathered by the HFEA. One of the pioneers of ICSI, André Van Steirteghem of the Brussels Free University Centre for Reproductive Medicine, warned in 2010 that IVF clinics are routinely overusing the treatment despite the risk of long-term health problems in the children conceived by the technique. "The health of children has to be considered the most important outcome of artificial reproductive technology treatment. It's fair to say that overall these children do well [but] there are a few more problems with these children," Dr Van Steirteghem said. "It doesn't mean that when you use ICSI there will be more problems, but it is important that we have to see what comes about in the future, so long-term monitoring is extremely important. ICSI has been overused," said Dr Van Steirteghem. He advises the HFEA on new developments in fertility treatment. However, Professor Pacey said that Britain is one country that is probably not overusing ICSI overall: "As a country overall we've got it about right, because about half of the fertility problems are male related and half are female related, and there is a 50:50 split between ICSI and conventional IVF." "But there may be some individual clinics that are doing it more than they should. They are frightened of fertilisation failing. The HFEA should be focusing on these individual clinics with high ICSI levels," he added. Article: 4th November 2013 www.independent.co.uk

'Sperm donor the only option for me' says Big Brother contestant

Aisleyne said: ““Sperm donation seems the only logical option. I don’t need a man financially. I can do it myself. I’m 34, my biological clock is ticking and I haven’t got forever.” The party girl says she's had to rethink her priorities since the death of her mother and uncle from cancer last year. She was left devastated when mum Sophia, 54, passed away in February, then three months later in May her uncle Dennis lost his battle with the disease aged 52. Speaking to Now magazine, she said: “I was too busy having fun. I thought I was invincible and had forever. It made me realise how fragile life could be and that I wanted to become a mother. “I want that responsibility of looking after someone completely helpless, to bring them up to be decent and give them the best life I possibly can. I want to live for someone other than just myself.” Since making the Big Brother final in 2006, Aisleyne has kept her love life largely out of the public eye. She briefly dated Mike Tyson in 2009, but despite a rumoured proposal from the former boxer, has yet to find someone to settle down with. She said: “I do think a child needs a dad and that’s a big drawback to doing it on my own. But there are so many single parents or children with a bad father – in this day and age the nuclear family hardly exists. “If I do meet Mr Right he’s going to have to accept me with this child. And anyway, having no stability is more detrimental to a child than having no father at all.” Article: 16th July 2013 www.thesun.co.uk

New NICE guidelines for women over 40 and lesbian couples

New guidelines set out for treating fertility problems dominate the health news. The coverage is based on updated infertility guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). While these guidelines are wide-ranging, the media’s coverage focuses largely on recommendations that: • NHS-funded IVF should now be offered up to the age of 42 (in certain circumstances) – the current IVF age limit is 39 • couples having difficulty conceiving should be offered treatment after two years of regular unprotected intercourse, instead of the current three • same sex couples should be offered NHS fertility treatment NICE says there is a need for new guidelines to reflect the medical advances which mean fertility problems (particularly in older women) can be treated more effectively. Other recommendations say that women under the age of 37 should only have one embryo transferred in their first cycle of IVF. This is intended to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies arising from IVF, which can result in complications for both mother and child. Most couples would no longer be offered intrauterine insemination, as NICE says the results are no better than those for sexual intercourse. An exception to this is if there are circumstances where vaginal intercourse would not be appropriate or possible. NICE guidelines are considered best practice and are based on the best available evidence. Local NHS organisations should follow the recommendations. The updated NICE guidelines have been published following an extensive consultation on draft guidelines issued in May 2012. The new guidelines set out many recommendations, the most high profile of which are outlined here. Article: 20th February 2013 www.nhs.co.uk

Egg Freezing - women still leaving it too late to have a baby

Leading Fertility expert Dr Gillian Lockwood says that women are still leaving it to late to try and have a baby. Dr Lockwood has suggested that Egg freezing should be every father’s graduation present to his daughter. Dr Lockwood, of the Midland Fertility Centre, where half of Britain’s babies conceived from frozen eggs originated, said young women are still not getting the message about infertility. She told The Times: ‘One part of me wants to say that [egg freezing] should be every dad’s graduation present for his daughter. It would be a very safe, low dose, and you could have 20 beautiful eggs in the freezer. 'But – and it’s a very big but – I’m concerned about how that would alter a woman’s life choices, that they might think: “Well, instead of having a family with Mr Not Quite Perfect, I can afford to wait for Mr Absolutely perfect”. In Britain, women are delaying childbirth later than ever: the average woman here has her first child at 31, compared to 24 in 1962. About 6,500 eggs have been stored in Britain in the decade since egg freezing was licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Yet the chances of conceiving a baby from a frozen egg are low, and preparing for it is a painful, costly process involving potent fertility drugs, chemicals and surgery. Hollywood star Jennifer Aniston is rumoured to have frozen her eggs, and in a recent episode of the U.S. reality television show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim injected herself with hormones in preparation for doing the same. But despite egg freezing being something often talked about as a viable option, just 12 babies have been born from frozen eggs in this country. However this may slowly change after a recent report by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) stated that egg freezing is no longer experimental technology. The organisation has recommended that women freeze their eggs in their 20s and 30s to help them conceive later in life. And it is timing that is key, says Dr Lockwood. 'By the time many women decide they want to freeze their eggs, they are often in their late 30s, when their eggs have declined in quality significantly. I get many calls from women around the age of 38 who want their eggs frozen,’ she told the Mail last month. Last year Brigitte Adams decided to freeze her eggs at the age of 38, to safeguard what was left of her fertility ‘A frozen egg from a 38-year-old will be better than a fresh one from a 42-year-old, but pregnancy is still not very likely.’ Dr Lockwood added that a 30-year-old who freezes her eggs would have a 30-40 per cent chance of having a child. After 38, this falls to 25 per cent. And even freezing your eggs at 30 could have its downsides, she said. 'Will it mean a woman waits around all her life for Mr Perfect, knowing she has healthy eggs from her 30-year-old self in the freezer, but then becomes bitter because she has rejected all the Mr Pretty Well Good Enoughs and found herself single and childless at 45, with frozen eggs that turned out not to work?’ Other experts have cautioned that egg freezing is by no means a fail-safe insurance policy. Dr Magdy Asaad, clinical director of the London Fertility Centre, says the chances of getting a baby from a frozen egg are about 1 to 3 per cent for each egg. Also, only eight out of ten eggs survive the thawing process and there are still some concerns about whether egg freezing is effective or safe in terms of the long-term health of children. There have also been suggestions that chemicals applied to the egg wall during flash-freezing could potentially damage the egg. Egg freezing is funded by the NHS if carried out for women having cancer treatment. Otherwise it costs £5,000 per cycle, then £200 a year to pay for safe storage of the eggs. One woman who chose to freeze her eggs was Brigitte Adams. Last year, at the age of 38, she decided to take action to safeguard what was left of her fertility. She told The Times: 'I know I have less than a 30 per cent chance - but it's better than zero chance. I feel I have at least done something proactive and have a back-up plan.' She has gone on to found the website Eggsurance to encourage other women to think about freezing their eggs as an 'insurance policy' that can be used later. Ms Adams was 37 when she started thinking about the procedure. 'I just always expected that at my age I would already have kids. I also had some close friends who were either going through difficult IVF treatments or looking into the adoption process. 'I contacted a fertility doctor in my city who told me to “just get pregnant". Not exactly what I wanted to hear.' She adds that she assumed because she ate well and exercised that she must have a healthy supply of eggs. 'So I was surprised when I learned that maternal age directly correlates to the health of your eggs.' Her family were incredibly supportive, she says. 'My parents were all for it and even offered to pay for some of the treatment costs. My friends, on the other hand, were shocked initially as they did not know anybody who had had their eggs frozen. 'However, once I explained the procedure to them they were extremely supportive and of great help. You really need a strong support system through a process like this as it is both physically and emotionally challenging.' Article: 26th November 2012 www.dailymail.co.uk

Scratching lining of womb could double IVF success rates

British researchers found that gently scratching the lining of the womb a month before IVF treatment improved the chances of pregnancy. A review of research on the technique found that twice as many women became pregnant after the procedure than without, boosting pregnancy rates to almost one in two. Doctors at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital, central London, are carrying out a larger trial to establish the overall efficacy of the technique with the hope of offering it routinely within three to five years. It is thought that scratching the womb lining stimulates growth factors and repair mechanisms that allow the fertilised egg to embed more easily. It takes only 15 minutes in clinic, can be carried out by trained nurses and uses simple equipment already in use. The procedure may add less than £100 to the average £4,500 cost of a cycle of IVF treatment. Dr Tarek El-Toukhy, who led the review study, said: “Endometrial scratching uses simple, inexpensive equipment that most hospitals already have and which clinicians are already trained to use, so complications are rare. “It’s exciting that the chance of pregnancy could be doubled. The next step is to see if this applies to birth rates. About a third of IVF treatments result in a baby, so improving these odds would make a big difference to people trying to have children through IVF.” The findings from the review of eight studies involving 911 patients are published in Reproductive Biomedicine online. In the review, 128 out of 499 women who did not have the womb procedure became pregnant — almost 26 per cent. Of the 412 women who had the procedure, 198 fell pregnant, or 48 per cent. There were no serious side effects reported and early signs are that the doubling in rates will be translated into birth rates. The women in the study had all suffered repeated unexplained implantation failure, meaning other aspects of their fertility seemed normal but the egg did not implant properly in the womb. Maha Ragunath, the clinical director of Care Nottingham, the biggest private provider of fertility treatment in England, said the technique should be offered widely to all IVF patients in the near future. She has begun carrying out the procedure for patients who have suffered repeated failed cycles of IVF. “This is really priming the womb to receive the embryo,” she said. “It is a bit like having a smear test for cervical cancer. It is very quick and simple. “I think any doctor reading the review would want to at least talk to their patients about this procedure. “There is obviously something to be gained from it, no long-term damage and it is so inexpensive, so why not?” Article: 1st October 2012 www.telegraph.co.uk

IVF clinic in Nottingham offers free Chromosome screening

A CITY fertility clinic is inviting prospective IVF patients to join a clinical trial to have their embryos screened free of charge for abnormalities. Care Fertility has pioneered the of egg and embryo screening, called Array CGH. The aim of the study is to test whether transferring normal embryos significantly increases pregnancy and live birth rates in younger women undergoing IVF for the first time. People who take part must meet a number of criteria: - Female age less than 35 - Male and female BMI less than 35 - No previous IVF treatment - No history of miscarriage - Normal sperm count Patients can apply online to join the trial. If accepted they will undergo an IVF cycle, paying only for their IVF treatment and drugs. Chromosome screening, normally costing £2,435, will be free of charge. Managing director Dr Simon Fishel said: "My personal goal for our patients is to improve the chances of conceiving a healthy embryo and a healthy baby in the first attempt at IVF." Article: www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

New Fertility programme, DuoFertility, is now available to American couples to help them get pregnant.

Over two million American couples are having problems getting pregnant.[1] The standard treatment which can help these couples conceive is in-vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF can change lives but can also be very emotionally, physically and financially draining. The DuoFertility programme is a highly effective method to help couples conceive. The programme is totally non-invasive and drug free, yet published studies have shown a pregnancy rate similar to that of a cycle of IVF after just six months of use[2]. It uses a revolutionary sensor to monitor a woman’s body 24 hours a day, indicating the couple’s most fertile days, giving couples the very best chance of getting pregnant. Fertility experts review the data with the couples regularly to provide feedback. Studies have shown that DuoFertility can help 8 out of 10 infertile couples, including half of all those seeking invasive clinical procedures such as IVF2. DuoFertility has helped hundreds of couples get pregnant in Europe. Now that same help is available to American couples for $795. In the US, a single cycle of IVF will cost on average $15,000 to the couple and is rarely covered by health insurance, leaving many American couples struggling to afford fertility treatment. At one-twentieth the cost of a single cycle of IVF, DuoFertility has the potential to help millions of American couples to turn their dreams of a family into reality. To find out if DuoFertility can help you get pregnant, you can use the DuoFertility suitability tool here. You can purchase DuoFertility, which is FDA cleared, from the US on the DuoFertility website or the Pride Angel website. [1] Centers for Disease Control and Preventio (CDC) :http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/fertile.htm [2] Chausiaux et al., “Pregnancy Prognosis in Infertile Couples on the DuoFertility Programme Compared with In Vitro Fertilisation/Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection”, European Obstetrics & Gynaecology 2011;6(2):92-4 online PDF: http://bit.ly/IfjFiY Article: 3rd July 2012 www.duofertility.com.us

Pope Benedict XVI faces backlash after his rant about IVF

THE Pope has been attacked as archaic and out of touch after urging infertile couples to shun IVF and insisting sex between a husband and wife was the only acceptable way of conceiving.
Melinda Roberts, mother of Thomas, 3, and Matthew, 7 months, said Pope Benedict XVI's words angered her. "Both of my children were conceived through IVF, and every day my husband and I are eternally grateful for the assistance," the Glen Waverley mum said.

Is the Pope right to speak out against IVF? Join the debate below Monash IVF director Professor Gab Kovacs said the Pope was out of touch, and "most ... in his congregation take no notice of him".

Many Catholic couples sought fertility treatment, allowing themselves to be dictated by their consciences and what was right, rather than the church, Prof Kovacs said.

He said the Catholic Church had not changed its stance since the beginning of reproductive medicine in the 1970s. Speaking at a conference on infertility in Rome, the Pope said artificial methods of getting pregnant were arrogance, insisting that sex between a husband and wife was the only acceptable way of conceiving.

Matrimony was the "only place worthy of the call to existence of a new human being", he told scientists and fertility experts. "The human and Christian dignity of procreation, in fact, doesn't consist in a "product", but in its link to the conjugal act, an expression of the love of the spouses of their union, not only biological but also spiritual," he said.

Melbourne's City Fertility Centre medical director Dr David Wilkinson said most of his patients had already been trying to conceive through conjugal relations, but it had not worked.

The Pope was also critised for his recent comments stating that 'Gay marriage is one of several threats to the traditional family unit that undermines 'the future of humanity itself'.

The Vatican and Catholic officials around the world have protested against moves to legalise gay marriage in Europe and other developed parts of the world.

Fotunately many people including Roman Catholics do not agree with some of the moral teachings of this Pope, or his charismatic predecessor, Pope John Paul II, on matters such as birth control, fertility treatment, women priests or homosexuality.

Article extracts: 26th February 2012 www.heraldsun.com.au

Fertility 'wand' doubles chances of becoming pregnant by IVF

Scientists have developed a ‘fertility wand’ that has been shown to double the chances of becoming pregnant. The pregnancy rate among women undergoing IVF who had the new treatment was 32.7 per cent, compared to 13.7 per cent in comparison groups who did not have the therapy.

The live birth rate was also higher in the treatment group — 22.4 per cent compared to 9.8 per cent in the untreated group. The new treatment works on the womb lining. Fertility experts believe a poor quality womb lining may be a significant factor in women struggling to conceive.

In order for a woman to become pregnant, a fertilised egg, or embryo, has to become implanted into the womb lining. This process is complex, involving hormones, growth factors and chemicals produced by the immune system called cytokines.

The process is not fully understood, and there is no treatment if it goes wrong. However, Israeli researchers recently made the discovery that slight damage to the womb lining actually results in improved fertility. They found that 45 women who had undergone a uterine biopsy — where tissue was taken from the lining of the womb — had almost twice the rate of pregnancies and births as a control group.

A U.S. study found this damage triggered a repair response in the body, producing growth factors and cytokines. It also increased the activity of genes thought to play a role in preparing the lining for implantation.

These findings have been put to the test in a new trial involving 100 women who’d previously failed to conceive with IVF, despite their embryos being of a good quality. They were either given the new treatment or were allocated to a control group.

Pipelle The treatment involves inserting a long plastic tube-like device (known as the Pipelle) into the womb and then rotating it 360 degrees to ‘scratch’ the lining. Patients in the study were given painkillers 30 minutes before the procedure, which was carried out twice in one month.

The results, reported in the Journal of Human Reproduction Sciences, showed the pregnancy rate in the treated group was over double that of the control group.

Further clinical trials using the technique are now underway. Some 500 women are being recruited at Mansoura University in Egypt, while in another trial at the Sheba Medical Centre, Israel, 70 IVF patients will be randomly, selected to undergo the therapy with the Pipelle device.

Commenting on the research, Sanjay Vyas, a gynaecologist at Southmead Hospital, Bristol says: ‘This is very interesting work. Implantation failure when the quality of embryos transferred is good can be heartbreaking because it cannot be predicted.

‘This intervention is simple, and if it genuinely improves the implantation rate, it would be very good news. ‘We await the results of the larger trial with interest.’

Article: 19th December 2011 www.dailymail.co.uk

IVF not needed for many infertile couples - DuoFertility study shows

A new study published in European Obstetrics & Gynaecology shows that just six months using the DuoFertility monitor and service gives the same chance of pregnancy as a cycle of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) for many infertile couples. This study demonstrates that there is a viable non-invasive, drug-free alternative to IVF for thousands of couples, with the potential to save them (and the NHS) millions of pounds each year.

The paper is the first peer-reviewed publication of clinical pregnancy rates using the new DuoFertility product and service. Lead author, Dr. Oriane Chausiaux said “The results show that for couples suffering from unexplained infertility as well as a variety of other factors, twelve months using DuoFertility yields a higher clinical pregnancy rate than a cycle of IVF.” Not only is IVF invasive for the woman and demeaning for the man, but for many couples it is a procedure needlessly costing the NHS, or the couple themselves, thousands of pounds. A typical cycle of IVF in the private sector costs £7,000 all up. By comparison the DuoFertility program offers a year of monitoring and support for £500 - and it comes with a 12-month money-back pregnancy guarantee.

The publication coincides with the 200th reported pregnancy by users of DuoFertility, which was celebrated at the weekend with a party hosted by medical personality Dr. Miriam Stoppard. Dr. Stoppard, addressing the assembled parents and parents-to-be, said "[it is] the first product or service that I have seen in this arena which truly wraps around all of the needs of the couple, from the medical monitoring, to the review of this data by experts, and then the all-important emotional support that is provided."..."The results of the scientific studies on pregnancy rate are very encouraging, but do need to be followed up with live birth rates, and I look forward to seeing further research."

The authors of the study caution that although non-invasive and drug-free, DuoFertility is not suitable for all couples. Dr. Husheer, inventor of DuoFertility explained “although DuoFertility is suitable for around 80% of infertile couples, there are some couples with medically identified conditions that prevent natural conception, such as a woman with two blocked fallopian tubes. In these cases IVF is absolutely the right thing to do, enabling conception where it was previously a physical impossibility.”

About Cambridge Temperature Concepts Cambridge Temperature Concepts Limited (CTC) has developed a new kind of wireless physiological monitor, which measures body temperature, heat flow and movement with unprecedented resolution. The first application (DuoFertility) is in conception assistance for couples suffering infertility, however work is underway in areas as diverse as sleep quality monitoring, hypoglycemia detection, infection control and a range of veterinary applications. DuoFertility is a non-invasive, easy-to-use female fertility monitor. It is the most natural, convenient, and precise way of maximising the chances of getting pregnant.

CTC was founded by graduate students at the University of Cambridge in, winning business competitions at collegiate, university, regional and national levels prior to Angel funding. Less than 18 months later, the DuoFertility product had progressed from sheet-of-paper through medical device approvals, production prototype, Europe-wide trial, and had gained first direct-to-consumer sales.

Article: by Cambridge Temperature Concepts, 14th December 2011

Infertile woman desperate for a baby refused IVF as her partner has a son

A fashion designer has been left distraught after she was turned down for IVF funding because her partner already has a son from a previous relationship.
Susi Henson, 33, is unable to conceive naturally as she suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, which causes cysts to form on her ovaries. She and her partner Jay Nightingale visited their GP and were referred for treatment.

But after a six-month wait, the couple were told by health bosses their funding request had been turned down because Mr Nightingale, 40, has a 20-year-old son whom Ms Henson has never met. This means they will have to find £7,500 to pay for the treatment privately.

Health guidance organisation the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends all couples with fertility problems aged between 23 and 39 should be allowed three courses of IVF paid for by the NHS. However, NHS Nottinghamshire County stipulates that couples who have a child from a previous relationship are not eligible.

Miss Henson, from Nottingham, said today: 'How can we not be classed as a childless couple? Jay's son lives in Wales, and I've never met him. 'It is a totally unfair system. If I lived in another part of the country I would be able to get funding.

'But the health authorities here won't allow for it. I believe it is totally wrong. It's discriminatory, a complete postcode lottery.' Miss Henson, who owns a corset-making firm, is now calling for the treatment to be made available for all infertile couples. She said: 'I'm sure I'm not the only one out there having these issues. I'm doing this not just for ourselves but for everyone else out there, men and women.

'The condition I have is a disease so treatment should be covered. 'My partner and I are both self-employed and are having to save a lot of cash to be able to think about paying for treatment. 'There must be many out there who cannot afford it. It isn't right.'

Miss Henson has been told that, before any IVF treatment, she will need a year-long course of the drug colmid. Treatment including IVF and the drug would cost £7,500.

To read more go to http://bit.ly/pc2nIH

Neice acts as Surrogate, ending 15 year fertility struggle for her Aunt

A 29-year-old woman has given birth to her own 'cousin' after agreeing to help in her aunt's 15-year fertility fight. Emma Vaughan, 29, donated her eggs to her 42-year-old aunt Sandra Barlow and uncle Chris and acted as a surrogate for the birth. Miss Vaughan has now given birth to a baby girl called Maia, who is her biological daughter but her cousin by law after Mrs Barlow applied for a parental order.

It brings Mr and Mrs Barlow's 15-year battle to conceive to an end. Their hopes of having a baby naturally were dashed early on when doctors told Mrs Barlow that her fallopian tubes had fused shut and had to be removed.

She was sent for a dye test, where dye is injected into the cervix and uterus to check the fallopian tubes. It showed they were completely blocked and she was operated on immediately. After she recovered, she and her husband, 50, decided to try IVF. In total they spent £40,000 on seven cycles over five years, with Mrs Barlow suffering two miscarriages.

Then in 2008 the couple from Maidstone, Kent, made the decision to seek help from someone in their family, namely their niece Emma. Mrs Barlow said: 'Surrogacy seemed like our only hope. I did some research and looked at a surrogacy agency website. 'I was in awe that people did these amazing things for complete strangers but I wanted to do it within the family. I started to think who in the family could help us. I'm not sure what made me think of Emma.' Emma is the daughter of Mrs Barlow's brother Jim but they lost touch when Emma's parents split up and she moved away to live with her mother. They were reunited 11 years ago after meeting at Jim's funeral and have stayed in regular contact since.

Mrs Barlow said she spent months agonising over whether she should ask her niece before mentioning it to her husband. She said: 'I could tell he was shocked but he said: "We've got nothing to lose". When I rang Emma she instantly said yes. I told her to take some time to think about it but she never hesitated.'

Shortly afterwards, Mrs Barlow joined a surrogacy agency for advice about what would be involved. The couple signed a surrogacy agreement with Emma, although these agreements are not legally binding. 'Sandra and Chris never put me under pressure. It was my choice, I knew I could do it'

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Women would move house in order to get IVF treatment

Two thirds of women would consider moving house to access IVF on the NHS, according to research.

Many have suffered fertility problems or know someone who has, while others have experienced depression and financial issues as a result of infertility, it found. While Scottish care trusts fund three fertility cycles, English PCTs decide on case-by-case bases about supporting treatments, leaving many patients struggling to access the IVF they need to conceive.

Clare Lewis-Jones, from the Infertility Network support network, said that for many couples ‘NHS is simply not an option purely because of their postcode.

‘This is a totally cruel, unjustifiable and unacceptable situation which simply must end, and end quickly before it is too late for those affected and they face a life without children which for many is too awful to contemplate,’ she added. A survey by She magazine of 1,000 readers found some 80 per cent knew of at least one couple who had had problems conceiving, while one in four had visited their GP to discuss fertility concerns.

A fifth had experienced financial difficulties through needing treatment, or knew someone who had, while more than one in three had suffered depression as a result of problems conceiving.

A similar number said infertility had caused a strain on their relationship with their partner, or they had witnessed friends experiencing issues while trying to conceive.

In 2004, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the NHS should fund three free cycles of IVF for women aged 23 to 39. A Department of Health survey from 2009 showed 30 per cent of health trusts offered three cycles, 23 per cent two cycles and 47 per cent one cycle.

Battle for treatment: Many couples struggle to gain access to IVF on the basis of which PCT caters for their area However, since then there have been widespread reports of trusts slashing funding for IVF, with more cuts expected this year.

A survey by Pulse magazine last year found one in five of all primary care trusts (PCTs) had cut funding for IVF in the previous three years and eight PCTs had not funded any IVF treatment for two years.

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New IVF technique to create babies free from disease, using DNA from three parents

The first baby with three biological parents could be conceived next year after the Government announced a major review of Britain’s fertility laws.

The move would allow doctors to use a revolutionary IVF technique that prevents incurable, deadly genetic illnesses being passed down from mothers to their children.

Babies created with the therapy – called three-parent IVF – would inherit 98 per cent of their DNA from their ‘real’ parents. The rest would come from a female donor.

The scientists say the donor genes would not alter the children’s appearance or personality, but would stop them dying from painful diseases of the heart, liver and brain.

But the revelation has horrified embryo campaigners who accused doctors of ‘meddling around with the delicate building blocks of life’. It also raises questions about parental rights and whether the donor parent would have any say in the upbringing of a child.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has asked the fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, to investigate the safety of the technique. If MPs back the change, it could be introduced in 12 months.

The new therapy, designed by Professor Doug Turnbull, of Newcastle University, centres on mitochondria – the power packs inside cells that convert food into energy.

Each mitochondrion contains a small amount of DNA. Around 100 babies every year are born with a disease caused by faulty mitochondrial DNA. There is no cure and many die within hours of birth.

Unlike the bulk of the DNA in the human body – which comes from both parents – mitochondrial DNA is only passed down from mothers.The new technique replaces faulty mitochondria with healthy transplants from a donor egg cell.

Professor Alison Murdoch, head of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Newcastle University, said: ‘We are not ready to do this in patients now but the science is progressing very rapidly and we need to get Parliament to discuss this again. We anticipate that the review could take about a year. There is no guarantee that we will have all the evidence we need to secure a licence in a year but we need to anticipate that we may have.

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Thirty years of IVF fertility treatment

The birth of the world's test tube baby heralded a new era of fertility treatment, and thirty years on 12,000 IVF babies are born every year in Britain alone.
The development of In Vitro Fertilisation, or IVF as it is commonly known, meant doctors could fertilise a woman's egg in a laboratory, before placing it in her womb to develop.

Since Doctors Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards artificially orchestrated the birth of Louise Brown, IVF has undergone a substantial amount of progress.

Along with steadily raising the rate of success in IVF treatment from their earliest ventures, scientists used the contraceptive pill to more conveniently schedule IVF cycles, making the process easier for doctors and patients.

They also perfected the technique of freezing and thawing embryos, making the technique significantly more effective.

In 1992, researchers developed a method of injecting a single sperm cell directly into an egg, greatly increasing the chances of fertilisation for men with low sperm production.

Increasing effectiveness of the treatment has also meant doctors can implant fewer embryos into the womb – reducing the chance of multiple pregnancies.

And the latest development is a screening process which screens embryos for genetic faults, checking the baby's chromosomes against those of the parents to give it a greater chance of survival and good health.

But these advancements have gone hand in hand with criticism of IVF on both moral and clinical grounds.

Opponents of research into IVF included Enoch Powell, who in 1985 submitted a bill to Parliament which would have prohibited any further embryo research if it had been passed.

Questions have been raised over the ethics of being able to ‘screen’ embryos for potential genetic traits, either good or bad, before they are implanted – the so-called “designer baby” argument.

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Online IVF calculator predicts fertility treatment success rates

Web resource based on five years of medical records aims to tell women their likelihood of giving birth with 99% accuracy
Women hoping to have a baby through fertility treatment can from today use an online calculator to show them how likely they are to succeed.

IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) is expensive, only sometimes available on the NHS and less successful than many people think.

To help couples to decide whether IVF is worth pursuing for them, academics at Glasgow and Bristol have created the calculator, which they say will predict a woman's likelihood of giving birth with up to 99% accuracy.

"In the US and the UK, IVF is successful in about a third of women under 35 years old, but in only 5%-10% of women over the age of 40," said Professor Scott Nelson, Muirhead chair of reproductive and maternal medicine at the University of Glasgow.

"However, there are many other factors in addition to age which can alter your chance of success, and clinics don't usually take these into account when counselling couples or women."

The calculator, available for free at www.ivfpredict.com, is based on data from more than 144,000 IVF cycles held by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) – all the outcomes of treatments undergone between 2003 and 2007.

"Essentially, these findings indicate that treatment-specific factors can be used to provide infertile couples with a very accurate assessment of their chance of a successful outcome following IVF," Nelson said.

"It provides critical information on the likely outcome for couples deciding whether to undergo IVF. Up until now, estimates of success have not been reliable.

"The result of this study is a tool which can be used to make incredibly accurate predictions."

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Intralipid fertility treatment may cut miscarriages and boost pregnancy rates

An experimental fertility treatment increases the odds of an IVF pregnancy up to six times while also inhibiting chemicals which cause miscarriages, a study has found. When women who had gone through IVF time and time again without success were given a soya-based substance, half became pregnant. In contrast, fewer than one in ten of those who had conventional fertility treatment alone conceived.
The doctors behind the remarkable study believe that the Intralipid liquid, a fat and calorie-rich potion normally used when tube-feeding very sick patients, could help many more women achieve their dream of motherhood.

Improving success rates would spare women the emotional and financial pain of going through repeated IVF treatments, only for them to fail. The liquid also stems the production by the body of harmful chemicals which can lead to miscarriage.

George Ndukwe, of the Care fertility clinic in Nottingham, said: ‘Every day in my clinic I see women who have had numerous IVF cycles all with the same negative outcome and no baby. ‘I also regularly see couples who have suffered the misery of repeated miscarriages. ‘People talk about the financial implications but the emotional one is as bad or, I would say, worse. ‘These women are at the bottom of a dark pit and can’t climb out and can’t see the light.

We are devoting our attention to finding answers when nature goes wrong.’ Dr Ndukwe, the clinic’s medical director, believes that up to one in four women who struggle conceiving have faulty immune systems.

It is thought that extra high levels of white blood cells called natural killer cells ‘fight’ the pregnancy by triggering the production of chemicals that attack the placenta or the embryo. The chemicals are already known to trigger rheumatoid arthritis and the arthritis drug Humira has shown promise in boosting pregnancy rates.

However, it costs up to £2,000 per patient and does not work for everyone. At around £200 per woman, Intralipid, which is given through a drip around a week before a woman has IVF, is much cheaper.

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IVF treatments for lesbian couples double since 2007

IVF treatment's popularity has soard this decade.
The number of lesbian couples undergoing IVF treatment leapt from 176 in 2007 to 350 in 2009, according to figures reportd by Mail Online.

In 2008, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act allowed for the first time two mothers or fathers to be named on a child’s birth certificate.

It also removed the requirement of a father figure in the child’s life in favour of “supportive” parenting without regard to gender.

Gary Nunn, of Stonewall, said: “Now the law has changed it has made it fairer and easier for them to get treatment.”

Norman Wells, the director of the Family Education Trust, who disagreed with removing the requirement of a male figure, said: “It was always inevitable that removing the legal requirement to consider the need of a child for a father would result in a rise in fatherless families.

“The change in the law had nothing to do with the welfare of children and everything to do with the desires of adults to subvert the natural order and redefine the family to suit themselves.”

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Couple have baby boy after being first to conceive using 'DuoFertility' monitor

A delighted couple revealed today they were the first to conceive with an IVF alternative dubbed the 'fertility sat nav'.
Marie and Mirco Martinelli believed they would never be able to have children after suffering three miscarriages in just two years.

They signed up for IVF but were told there was a two-year waiting list for treatment. So they took part in a trial for DuoFertility, a ground-breaking temperature measuring device that promised pregnancy within 12 months.

They began using the £495 device in January 2009 and were delighted when Marie became pregnant after just seven months.

Baby Alec was born on March 20 this year and is the first baby to be born through the device - which claims to be statistically as good as IVF.

Secretary Marie, 29, who lives in Italy with Mirco, 37, and little Alec, now seven months, said she was "so happy" they had used the device.

She said: 'I was very worried and sad when I kept having miscarriages. The whole world was pregnant and had babies and I struggled to get pregnant and couldn't stay pregnant.

'DuoFertility stopped me thinking of myself as having a problem, and suddenly I was able to sleep more normally and feel a great deal calmer.

'Where the product calculates your fertile days after a few months, it was impossible for me to have been able to do that properly without proper scientific approaches, because my cycle was different all the time.

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