In Vitro Fertilization

In a breakthrough for infertile couples, the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of California has agreed to pay millions of dollars for in-vitro fertilization treatments to help some of its members conceive so-called "test-tube" babies. The agreement will bring an end to a unique class-action lawsuit filed by more than a dozen Kaiser patients who were denied coverage of the infertility treatment several years ago on the grounds the procedure was "experimental."

The Supreme Court justices voiced doubt over whether children who are born of in vitro fertilization more than a year after the death of their father are entitled to his survivor's benefits under the Social Security Act. The dispute involves a clash over how to interpret the 1930s pension law in an era of sperm donors and modern fertility. In 1939, Congress added a provision to the Social Security Act to give benefits to the survivors of deceased wage earners, including children who were dependents.  But judges have been split in the past decade over who qualifies as a survivor under this law. At issue is whether mothers can claim benefits for children who were conceived after their father died.

For more than five years, Patty and Scot Shier tried unsuccessfully to have a child. With every trip to the doctor they were told one medical obstacle or another stood in their way. So after their first attempts at in-vitro fertilization failed, they tried to increase their chances: Instead of the usual four embryos, they asked their doctor to implant seven. "We were just praying for one child," said Scot, noting that he and his wife are both only children unaccustomed to large families.

Maternal mortality is rare. But the rates are increasing in the United States and elsewhere for a number of reasons. In an editorial published Thursday, British researchers point out that in-vitro-fertilization-related pregnancies are an additional risk factor for maternal death. The major causes of death to new mothers are rare catastrophes, such as hemorrhage and blood clots. The incidence of these problems is increasing, possibly because more pregnant women today have health problems, such as diabetes, obesity or some other chronic condition.

Pressure from the anti-abortion movement has thwarted federal funding for research into in-vitro fertilization and other methods used to assist infertile couples, according to a congressional report released Saturday. The report, compiled by the House Government Operations subcommittee on human resources and intergovernmental relations, accused the Department of Health and Human Services of ignoring the "major health problem" of infertility for more than a decade.

A 35-year-old Reston, Va., woman, who requested anonymity, is at least eight weeks pregnant in what is believed to be the first successful impregnation of twins from frozen embryos in the United States, officials said. "I think the chance of this resulting in a live birth is extremely high," said Dr. Robert Schulman, director of the Genetics and IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) Institute in Fairfax, Va.

A landmark court settlement has been approved in San Francisco that could provide $25 million to $50 million to about 5,000 women for in-vitro fertilization. The agreement was negotiated between Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and thousands of women who had been denied coverage for the fertilization procedure. Women will receive compensation of up to $50,000 each for the procedure, which has a 20% success rate and frequently must be repeated.

Ventura County's first in-vitro fertilization center opened its doors to patients Wednesday, providing what Westlake Medical Center officials hope will be a solution for hundreds of infertile patients who seek treatment each year.

A new procedure for in-vitro fertilization is less costly than traditional procedures and yields comparable pregnancy rates, advocates of the approach say. The technique is called Natural Cycle Ovulation Retrieval in In Vitro Fertilization, NORIF for short. There is no hormonal stimulation of ovulation, as in traditional IVF. Instead, ovulation is allowed to occur naturally.

Australian biologists say they have for the first time developed a reliable, repeatable technique to produce horses through in vitro fertilization. Producing a foal through such techniques has been accomplished only twice before, and neither effort has been replicated. A team from the Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital in Monash announced Wednesday that a foal born March 9 was produced by injecting a single sperm into an egg, a technique developed to assist infertile humans.

The Beverly Hills fertility doctor who assisted Nadya Suleman in conceiving octuplets and six previous children said during testimony Wednesday that his goal with each pregnancy was to produce a single baby and that Suleman agreed to reduce the number of fetuses if the treatment were to result in multiple births. "We don't really intentionally want to make it a multiple pregnancy ? our goal is a single term pregnancy," said Dr. Michael Kamrava. "However, this is not an exact science.

British biologist Robert G. Edwards, whose contributions to the technology of in vitro fertilization have made more than 4 million couples parents, has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Working with Dr. Patrick Steptoe, Edwards, now 85, developed the techniques for removing mature eggs from a woman's ovaries, fertilizing them in test tubes and inducing them to begin dividing before implanting them back in the mother. Their efforts yielded the July 25, 1978, birth of Louise Brown, the first "test tube baby," both demonstrating the success and the safety of the technique and bringing hope to infertile people all over the world.

In 1978, Louise Brown was born -- and won the distinction of being the world's first "test tube baby" because she was conceived thanks to then-innovative in-vitro fertilization techniques, or IVF, developed by British biologists. Since then, IVF has more than grown up. The Los Angeles Times reports Monday that the technique and one of its pioneers are making headlines anew in "IVF innovator Robert G. Edwards wins Nobel. " Use of such techniques, also called assisted reproductive technology, has more than doubled in the last decade and accounts for 1% of all infants born in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One of the early fears about in vitro fertilization at its inception more than 30 years ago was that the procedure might cause genetic or other health problems in children conceived in that manner. It's clear that IVF is very safe. However, several studies suggest a slightly higher risk of birth defects and some types of illness among children born via IFV that parents should be aware of. The latest study indicates cancer may occur more often. Previous studies looking for a link between cancer and IVF have found nothing.

When couples with fertility problems turn to in vitro fertilization, they often assume that they can double their chances for a healthy baby by transferring two embryos to the womb instead of just one. But data published in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine show that what they're really doing is increasing their odds of having twins -- which is riskier for the mother and babies alike. In the early days of in vitro fertilization, doctors routinely transferred half a dozen embryos, or more, to boost the odds that at least one would grow into a healthy fetus.

A few months after Dr. Michael Kamrava helped Nadya Suleman become pregnant with octuplets, he transferred at least seven embryos to another patient. She was in her late 40s and wanted just one baby. Now she's five months pregnant with quadruplets and hospitalized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, according to several sources familiar with the situation. The new case could add to concerns about Kamrava's practice and about whether the fertility industry needs more regulation.

In vitro fertilization fails to produce a baby for about 75% of the couples who attempt it. Reasons range from poor embryo quality and quantity to implantation problems to bad luck. But oftentimes, doctors simply cannot explain the failure. Now, however, a study of women who use donor eggs when undergoing IVF points to what is possibly the most significant factor related to female infertility: the quality of the eggs. An analysis of 276 patients at USC showed that 87.

In vitro fertilization has come a long way since the birth in 1978 of the world's first "test tube" baby, Louise Brown. Thanks to improved technology, the procedure has a higher success rate than it did a decade ago and doctors now report fewer multiple births. A key reason for fewer triplets, quads and quints is that doctors began voluntarily limiting the number of embryos they implant in infertile women.

BEHIND EVERY ONE of the approximately half-million embryos in frozen storage in the United States are the adults responsible for creating them. About half ultimately decide to discard them, research has shown, a procedure that can be as unceremonious as a lab technician dumping the contents of a glass pipette into a hazardous-waste container. The other half face a more complex resolution.

Six years of frustration and heartbreak. That's how Gina Rathan recalls her attempts to become pregnant. Finally, she and her husband, Cheddi, conceived a daughter, now 3, through in vitro fertilization. About a year later, she became pregnant with a second child, naturally. Their family was complete. Then, a year ago, the Fountain Valley couple received a bill reminding them that their infertility journey wasn't quite over.