IVF Blessing

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that nearly two–third of the women undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) are likely to get luckier in their sixth attempt. Most infertile couples undergo IVF in a quest to become parents, but call it quits after three or four unsuccessful embryo transfers.

The findings, however, suggests that the cumulative rate for live births continue to increase, albeit modesty, up to the ninth cycle, suggesting that the persistence can pay off. The findings will leave behind many couples struggling to cope up with the expenses and emotional upheaval. The results were published after studying nearly 157,000 women in the US who underwent more than 257,000 cycles of IVF between 2003 and 2010. The cycle involves the stimulation of ovaries to produce several eggs, including all embryo transfers.

The rate of live births after the first cycle was about 29.5% compared to 20.5% after the fourth cycle, 17.4% after the sixth cycle and 15.7% after the ninth cycle. However, these figures were never recorded in such a large population. Moreover, a woman’s age too, had an impact with women less than 40 years of age achieving a success rate of 32.3% after the first cycle and 17% percent after the sixth cycle. In women aged between 40 and 42 years, the success rate was only 12.3% after the first cycle and 6.9% after the sixth cycle.