In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a process by which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the womb, in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed. The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova (eggs) from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a fluid medium. The fertilised egg (zygote) is then transferred to the patient's uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy. The first "test tube baby", Louise Brown, was born in 1978.
Oocyte with surrounding granulosa cells
The term in vitro, from the [Latin] root meaning within the glass, is used, because early biological experiments involving cultivation of tissues outside the living organism from which they came, were carried out in glass containers such as beakers, test tubes, or petri dishes. Today, the term in vitro is used to refer to any biological procedure that is performed outside the organism it would normally be occurring in, to distinguish it from an in vivo procedure, where the tissue remains inside the living organism within which it is normally found. A colloquial term for babies conceived as the result of IVF, test tube babies, refers to the tube-shaped containers of glass or plastic resin, called test tubes, that are commonly used in chemistry labs and biology labs. However, in vitro fertilisation is usually performed in the shallower containers called Petri dishes. (Petri-dishes may also be made of plastic resins.) However, the IVF method of Autologous Endometrial Coculture is actually performed on organic material, but is yet called in vitro. This is used when parents are having infertility problems or they want to have multiple births.
Indications
Initially IVF was developed to overcome infertility due to problems of the fallopian tube, but it turned out that it was successful in many other infertility situations as well. The introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) addresses the problem of male infertility to a large extent. (Male infertility consists of failure to produce sperm.)
For IVF to be successful it may be easier to say that it requires healthy ova, sperm that can fertilise, and a uterus that can maintain a pregnancy. Due to the costs of the procedure, IVF is generally attempted only after less expensive options have failed.
This means that IVF can be used for females who have already gone through menopause. The donated oocyte can be fertilised in a crucible. If the fertilisation is successful, the zygote will be transferred into the uterus, within which it will develop into an embryo.
Method
Ovarian stimulation
Treatment cycles are typically started on the third day of menstruation and consist of a regimen of fertility medications to stimulate the development of multiple follicles of the ovaries. In most patients injectable gonadotropins (usually FSH analogues) are used under close monitoring. Such monitoring frequently checks the estradiol level and, by means of gynecologic ultrasonography, follicular growth. Typically approximately 10 days of injections will be necessary. Spontaneous ovulation during the cycle is typically prevented by the use of GnRH agonists or GnRH antagonists, which block the natural surge of luteinising hormone (LH).
Egg retrieval
When follicular maturation is judged to be adequate, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is given. This agent, which acts as an analogue of luteinising hormone, would cause ovulation about 42 hours after injection, but a retrieval procedure takes place just prior to that, in order to recover the egg cells from the ovary. The eggs are retrieved from the patient using a transvaginal technique involving an ultrasound-guided needle piercing the vaginal wall to reach the ovaries. Through this needle follicles can be aspirated, and the follicular fluid is handed to the IVF laboratory to identify ova. It is common to remove between ten and thirty eggs. The retrieval procedure takes about 20 minutes and is usually done under conscious sedation or general anesthesia.
Fertilisation
In the laboratory, the identified eggs are stripped of surrounding cells and prepared for fertilisation. In the meantime, semen is prepared for fertilisation by removing inactive cells and seminal fluid. If semen is being provided by a sperm donor, it will usually have been prepared for treatment before being frozen and quarantined, and it will be thawed ready for use. The sperm and the egg are incubated together at a ratio of about 75,000:1 in the culture media for about 18 hours. In most cases, the egg will be fertilised by that time and the fertilised egg will show two pronuclei. In certain situations, such as low sperm count or motility, a single sperm may be injected directly into the egg using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The fertilised egg is passed to a special growth medium and left for about 48 hours until the egg consists of six to eight cells.
Selection
Laboratories have developed grading methods to judge oocyte and embryo quality. Typically, embryos that have reached the 6-8 cell stage are transferred three days after retrieval. In many American and Australian programmes[citation needed], however, embryos are placed into an extended culture system with a transfer done at the blastocyst stage at around five days after retrieval, especially if many good-quality embryos are still available on day 3. Blastocyst stage transfers have been shown to result in higher pregnancy rates.[1] In Europe, transfers after 2 days are common.
Embryo transfer
Embryos are graded by the embryologist based on the number of cells, evenness of growth and degree of fragmentation. The number to be transferred depends on the number available, the age of the woman and other health and diagnostic factors. In countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand, a maximum of two embryos are transferred except in unusual circumstances. In the UK and according to HFEA regulations, a woman over 40 may have up to three embryos transferred, whereas in the USA, younger women may have many embryos transferred based on individual fertility diagnosis. Most clinics and country regulatory bodies seek to minimise the risk of pregnancies carrying multiples. The embryos judged to be the "best" are transferred to the patient's uterus through a thin, plastic catheter, which goes through her vagina and cervix. Several embryos may be passed into the uterus to improve chances of implantation and pregnancy.
Pregnancy rates
Pregnancy rate is the success rate for pregnancy. For IVF, it is the percentage of all attempts that lead to pregnancy, which generally refers to treatment cycles where eggs are retrieved and fertilised in vitro. Statistics refering to "pregancy" may refer to just a positive pregnancy test, and not necessarily "viable pregnancy" which implies the detection of a fetal heart beat. Pregnancies that are delivered with a viable baby is called live birth rate. Increasingly a distinction is also made between singleton and multiple pregnancies as multiple pregnancies, specifically more than twins, should be avoided because of the associated maternal and fetal risks.
With enhanced technology, the pregnancy rates are substantially better today than a couple of years ago. In 2006, Canadian clinics reported an average pregnancy rate of 35%.[2] A French study estimated that 66% of patients starting IVF treatment finally succeed in having a child (40% during the IVF treatment at the center and 26% after IVF discontinuation). Achievement of having a child after IVF discontinuation was mainly due to adoption (46%) or spontaneous pregnancy (42%).[3]
Effect of stress
According to a 2005 Swedish study published in the Oxford Journal Human Reproduction, 166 women were monitored starting one month before their IVF cycles and the results showed no significant correlation between psychological stress and their IVF outcomes. The study concluded with the recommendation to clinics that it might be possible to reduce the stress experienced by IVF patients during the treatment procedure by informing them of those findings. While psychological stress experienced during a cycle might not influence an IVF outcome, it is possible that the experience of IVF can result in stress that leads to depression. The financial consequences alone of IVF can influence anxiety and become overwhelming. However, for many couples, the alternative is infertility, and the experience of infertility itself can also cause extreme stress and depression.
Live birth rate
Live birth rate is the percentage of all IVF cycles that lead to live birth, and is the pregnancy rate adjusted for miscarriage and stillbirth. These percentages are for successful pregnancies, regardless of the number of children born, as twins and larger multiple-order births are more common in IVF cycles.
In 2006, Canadian clinics reported a live birth rate of 27%.[2] A summary of 2006 reports from US clinics for cycles that did not involve donor eggs gave success rates varied widely by the age of the prospective mother, with a peak at 42.6% for 27-year-olds. Rates for younger patients were slightly lower, with a success rate of 35.3% for those 21 and younger, the youngest group evaluated. Success rates for older patients were also lower and decrease with age, with 37-year-olds at 27.4% and no live births for those older than 48, the oldest group evaluated. [4]
IVF attempts in multiple cycles result in increased cumulatve live birth rates. Depending on the demographic group, one study reported 45% to 53% for three attempts, and 51% to 71% for six attempts.[5]
Complications
The major complication of IVF is the risk of multiple births. This is directly related to the practice of transferring multiple embryos at embryo transfer. Multiple births are related to increased risk of pregnancy loss, obstetrical complications, prematurity, and neonatal morbidity with the potential for long term damage. Strict limits on the number of embryos that may be transferred have been enacted in some countries (e.g., England) to reduce the risk of high-order multiples (triplets or more), but are not universally followed or accepted. Spontaneous splitting of embryos in the womb after transfer can occur, but this is rare and would lead to identical twins. A double blind, randomised study followed IVF pregnancies that resulted in 73 infants (33 boys and 40 girls) and reported that 8.7% of singleton infants and 54.2% of twins had a birth weight of < 2500 g.[6] However recent evidence suggest that singleton offspring after IVF is at higher risk for lower birth weight for unknown reasons.
Another risk of ovarian stimulation is the development of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.
If the underlying infertility is related to abnormalities in spermatogenesis, it is plausible, but too early to examine that male offspring is at higher risk for sperm abnormalities.
Birth defects
The issue of birth defects has been a controversial topic in IVF. Many studies do not show a significant increase after use of IVF, and some studies suggest higher rates for ICSI, whereas others do not support this finding.[7] In 2008, an analysis of the data of the National Birth Defects Study in the US found that certain birth defects were significantly more common in infants conceived with IVF, notably septal heart defects, cleft lip with or without cleft palate, esophageal atresia, and anorectal atresia; the mechanism of causality is unclear.[8]
Japan's government prohibited the use of in vitro fertilisation procedures for couples in which both partners are infected with HIV. Despite the fact that the ethics committees previously allowed the Ogikubo Hospital, located in Tokyo, to use in vitro fertilisation for couples with HIV, the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry of Japan decided to block the practice. Hideji Hanabusa, the vice president of the Ogikubo Hospital, states that together with his colleagues, he managed to develop a method through which scientists are able to remove the AIDS virus from sperm.[9]
Cryopreservation
Embryo cryopreservation
The first pregnancy derived from a frozen human embryo was reported by Allan Trounson & Linda Mohr in 1983 whohad slept(although the fetus aborted spontaneously at about 20 weeks of gestation); the first term pregnancies derived from frozen human embryos were reported by Zeilmaker et al. and the first human baby hatched via a rate frozen freezing process was born in 1984. Since then and up to 2008 it is estimated that between 350,000 and half a million IVF babies have been born from embryos controlled rate frozen and then stored in liquid nitrogen; additionally a few hundred births have been born from vitrified oocytes but firm figures are hard to come by.
On the safety of embryo cryopreservation, a 2008 study reported at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology discovered that children born from frozen embryos did “better and had a higher birth weight” than children born from a fresh transfer. The study was conducted out of Copenhagen and evaluated babies born during the years 1995–2006. 1267 children born after Frozen Embryo Replacement (FER), via controlled-rate freezers and storage in liquid nitrogen, were studied and categorised into three groups. 878 of them were born using frozen embryos that were created using standard in vitro fertilisation in which the sperm were placed into a dish close to the egg but had to penetrate the egg on their own. 310 children were born with frozen embryos created using ICSI in which a single sperm was injected into a single egg, and 79 were born where the method of creation of the embryos was not known.
17,857 babies born after a normal IVF/ICSI with fresh embryos were also studied and used as a control group or reference group. Data on all of the children’s outcomes were taken regarding birth defects, birth weights, and length of pregnancy. The results of the study showed that the children who came from frozen embryos had higher birth weights, gave longer pregnancies and produced fewer “pre-term” births. There was no difference in the rate of birth defects whether the children came from frozen embryos or fresh embryos. In the FER group, the birth defect rate was 7.7% compared to the fresh transfer group which was slightly higher at 8.8%. The scientists also found that the risk for multiple pregnancies was increased in the fresh embryo transfers.
Around 11.7% of the ICSI and 14.2% of the IVF frozen cases were multiple pregnancies. In the case of fresh embryos, 24.8% of the ICSI and 27.3% of the IVF were multiple pregnancies. It should also be noted that maternal age was significantly higher in the FER group. This is significant since based on age one would have expected a higher rate of problems and birth defects. The study adds to the body of knowledge suggesting that traditional embryo freezing is a safe procedure. It was unclear however why the frozen embryo children did better than their fresh embryo counterparts
If multiple embryos are generated, patients may choose to freeze embryos that are not transferred. Those embryos are slow frozen and then placed in liquid nitrogen and can be preserved for a long time. There are currently 500,000 frozen embryos in the United States.[10] The advantage is that patients who fail to conceive may become pregnant using such embryos without having to go through a full IVF cycle. Or, if pregnancy occurred, they could return later for another pregnancy. Spare embryos resulting from fertility treatments may be donated to another woman or couple, and embryos may be created, frozen and stored specifically for transfer and donation by using donor eggs and sperm.
Oocyte cryopreservation
Cryopreservation of unfertilised mature oocytes has been successfully accomplished, e.g. in women who are likely to lose their ovarian reserve due to undergoing chemotherapy.[11] It should be note that the rate of thaw leading to successful pregnancies is still very low.
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation
Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is of interest to women who want to preserve their reproductive function beyond the natural limit, or whose reproductive potential is threatened by cancer therapy. Research on this issue is promising.
Variations
There are several variations or improvements of IVF:
- PGD
-
- PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis) can be performed on embryos before the embryo transfer. A similar but more general test has been developed called Preimplantation Genetic Haplotyping (PGH).
- ICSI
- ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) is a more recent development associated with IVF that allows the sperm to be injected directly into the egg. This is used when sperm have difficulty penetrating the egg, and in these cases the partner's or a donor's sperm may be used. ICSI is also used when sperm numbers are very low. ICSI results in success rates equal to those of IVF fertilisation.
- ZIFT
- In the process of ZIFT (Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer), eggs are removed from the woman, fertilised, and then placed in the woman's fallopian tubes rather than the uterus.
- GIFT
- In the GIFT (Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer) process, eggs are removed from the woman and placed in one of the fallopian tubes, along with the man's sperm. This allows fertilisation to take place inside the woman's body. Therefore, this variation is actually an in vivo fertilisation, not an in vitro fertilisation.
Embryo & Oocyte Donation
The first transfer of an embryo from one human to another resulting in pregnancy was reported in July 1983 and subsequently led to the announcement of the first human birth resulting from IVF on February 3, 1984.[12] It was accomplished by in vivo fertilisation, a process that was derived from animal husbandry. This procedure was performed at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center [13] under the direction of Dr.John Buster and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine.
In the procedure, an embryo that was just beginning to develop was transferred from one woman in whom it had been conceived by artificial insemination to another woman who gave birth to the infant 38 weeks later. The sperm used in the artificial insemination came from the husband of the woman who bore the baby.[14][15]
Donor embryo transfer has given women a mechanism to become pregnant and give birth to a child that will contain their husband’s genetic makeup. Although donor embryo transfer as practiced today has evolved from the original non-surgical method, it now accounts for approximately 5% of in vitro fertilisation recorded births.
Prior to this, women who were infertile, had adoption as the only path to parenthood. This set the stage to allow open and candid discussion of embryo donation and transfer. This breakthrough has given way to the donation of human embryos as a common practice similar to other donations such as blood and major organ donations. At the time of this announcement the event was captured by major news carriers and fueled healthy debate and discussion on this practice which impacted the future of reproductive medicine by creating a platform for further advancements in woman's health.
This work established the technical foundation and legal-ethical framework surrounding the clinical use of human oocyte and embryo donation, now a mainstream clinical practice that has evolved over the past 25 years.[14][16] Since the initial birth announcement in 1984, well over 47,000 live births resulting from donor embryo transfer have been and continue to be recorded by the Centers for Disease Control(CDC)[17] in the United States.[18][19]
Acupuncture
An increasing number of fertility specialists and centers offer acupuncture as a part of their IVF protocol. Limited but supportive evidence from clinical trials and case series suggests that acupuncture may improve the success rate of IVF and the quality of life of patients undergoing IVF and that it is a safe adjunct therapy.[20] A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Medical Journal found that complementing the embryo transfer process with acupuncture was associated with significant and clinically relevant improvements in clinical pregnancy (where the expected number of patients needed to be treated to produce 1 additional pregnancy was 10), ongoing pregnancy (NNT 9), and live birth (NNT 9).[21]
Acupuncture Mechanisms
Four mechanisms by which it has been suggested that acupuncture may improve IVF outcomes are[20]
- Neuroendocrinological modulations
- Increased blood flow to uterus and ovaries
- Modulation in cytokines
- Reduction of stress, anxiety, and depression
Electro-acupuncture in oocyte retrieval for IVF
Electro-acupuncture has been found to be a good alternative to conventional medical analgesia, it results in shorter hospitalisation times and lower costs.[22]
History
John Rock was the first to extract an intact fertilised egg.[23]
The first pregnancy achieved through in vitro human fertilisation of a human oocyte was reported in The Lancet from the Monash team [24] in 1973, although it lasted only a few days and would today be called a biochemical pregnancy. This was followed by a tubal ectopic pregnancy from Steptoe and Edwards in 1976 which resulted in the birth of Louise Brown on 25 July 1978, followed by Courtney Cross on 16 October 1978 and Alastair MacDonald on 14 January 1979, the world’s first IVF babies. This was followed by the birth of Candice Reed in Melbourne in 1980. It was the subsequent use of stimulated cycles with clomiphene citrate and the use of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) to control and time oocyte maturation, thus controlling the time of collection, that converted IVF from a research tool to a clinical treatment.
This was followed by a total of 14 pregnancies resulting in nine births in 1981 with the Monash university team. The Jones team[25] at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, further improved stimulated cycles by incorporating the use of a follicle-stimulating hormone (uHMG). This then became known as controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). Another step forward was the use of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHA), thus decreasing the need for monitoring by preventing premature ovulation, and more recently gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonists (GnRH Ant), which have a similar function. The additional use of the oral contraceptive pill has allowed the scheduling of IVF cycles, which has made the treatment far more convenient for both staff and patients.
The ability to freeze and subsequently thaw and transfer embryos has significantly improved the feasibility of IVF use.[26] The other very significant milestone in IVF was the development of the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) of single sperms by Andre van Steirtegham in Brussels, 1992. This has enabled men with minimal sperm production to achieve pregnancies. ICSI is sometimes used in conjunction with sperm recovery, using a testicular fine needle or open testicular biopsy. Using this method, some men with Klinefelter's syndrome, and so would be otherwise infertile, have occasionally been able to achieve pregnancy.[26][27] Thus, IVF has become the final solution for most fertility problems, moving from tubal disease to male factor, idiopathic subfertility, endometriosis, advanced maternal age, and anovulation not responding to ovulation induction.
Carl Wood was dubbed "the father of IVF (in vitro fertilisation)" for having pioneered the use of frozen embryos.[28]
Ethics
Issues
In a few cases, laboratory mix-ups (misidentified gametes, transfer of wrong embryos) have occurred, leading to legal action against the IVF provider and complex paternity suits. An example is the case of a woman in California who received the embryo of another couple and was notified of this mistake after the birth of her son.[29]
Another concern is that people will screen in or out for particular traits, using preimplantation genetic diagnosis. For example, a deaf English couple, Tom and Paula Lichy, have petitioned to create a deaf baby using IVF.[30] Some medical ethicists have been very critical of this approach. Jacob Appel wrote that "intentionally culling out blind or deaf embryos might prevent considerable future suffering, while a policy that allowed deaf or blind parents to select for such traits intentionally would be far more troublesome."[31]
Pregnancy past menopause
Although menopause is a natural barrier to further conception, IVF has allowed women to be pregnant in their fifties and sixties. Women whose uterus has been appropriately prepared receive embryos that originated from an egg of an egg donor. Therefore, although these women do not have a genetic link with the child, they have an emotional link through pregnancy and childbirth. In many cases the genetic father of the child is the woman's partner. Even after menopause the uterus is fully capable of carrying out a pregnancy.[32]
Same-sex couples
A recent controversy in California focused on the question of whether physicians opposed to same-sex relationships should be required to perform IVF for a lesbian couple. Guadalupe T. Benitez, a medical assistant from San Diego, sued doctors Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton of the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group after Brody told her that she had "religious-based objections to treating homosexuals to help them conceive children by artificial insemination," and Fenton refused to authorise a refill of her prescription for the fertility drug Clomid on the same grounds.[33][34] The case, North Coast Women's Care Medical Group v. Superior Court, was decided in favor of Benitez on August 19, 2008.[35]
Religious objections
The Roman Catholic Church opposes all kinds of in vitro fertilisation because, as with contraception, it separates the procreative purpose of the marriage act from its unitive purpose:
This particular doctrine [of "observing the natural law"], often expounded by the magisterium of the Church, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act. The reason is that the fundamental nature of the marriage act, while uniting husband and wife in the closest intimacy, also renders them capable of generating new life—and this as a result of laws written into the actual nature of man and of woman. And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme responsibility of parenthood to which man is called. We believe that our contemporaries are particularly capable of seeing that this teaching is in harmony with human reason.[36]
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) [...] dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children."[37]
The Catholic Church advocates that infertility is a call from God to adopt children because
The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord's Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.[37]
Also, embryos are sometimes discarded in the in vitro fertilisation process, resulting in their death. Catholics and many people of other faiths see embryos as human lives with the same rights as all others and therefore view the destruction of embryos as the loss of innocent lives.
Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT) is not technically in vitro fertilisation because with GIFT, fertilisation takes place inside the body, not on a Petri dish. The Catholic Church nevertheless is concerned with it because "Some theologians consider this to be a replacement of the marital act, and therefore immoral."[38]
Availability and utilisation
In the USA, overall availability of IVF in 2005 was 2.5 IVF physicians per 100,000 population, and utilisation was 236 IVF cycles per 100,000.[39] Utilisation highly increases with availability and IVF insurance coverage, and to a significant extent also with percentage of single persons and median income.[39]
The cost of IVF rather reflects the costliness of the underlying healthcare system than the regulatory or funding environment,[40] and ranges, on average for a standard IVF cycle and in 2006 United States dollars, between $12,500 in the United States to $4,000 in Japan. [40] The cost per live birth is highest in the United States ($41,000[40]) and United Kingdom ($40,000[40]) and lowest in Scandinavia and Japan (both around $24,500[40]).
See also
References
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- ^ a b Success rate climbs for in vitro fertilization The Canadian Press. December 15, 2008 at 8:27 PM EST
- ^ de La Rochebrochard E, Quelen C, Peikrishvili R, Guibert J, Bouyer J (August 2008). "Long-term outcome of parenthood project during in vitro fertilization and after discontinuation of unsuccessful in vitro fertilization". Fertil. Steril.. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.05.067. PMID 18706550.
- ^ "2006 Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Report: Section 2". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ART/ART2006/section1.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-25.
- ^ Study: Sixth Time May Be Charm For In Vitro by Patti Neighmond. Day to Day, National Public Radio. 21 Jan 2009.
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- ^ Kurinczuk JJ (2003). "Safety issues in assisted reproduction technology. From theory to reality—just what are the data telling us about ICSI offspring health and future fertility and should we be concerned?". Hum Reprod 18 (5): 925–31. doi:10.1093/humrep/deg217. PMID 12721163.
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- ^ Japan Bans in Vitro Fertilisation for HIV Couples
- ^ http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/07/souls_on_ice.html
- ^ Porcu E, Fabbri R, Damiano G, Fratto R, Giunchi S, Venturoli S (2004). "Oocyte cryopreservation in oncological patients". Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 113 Suppl 1: S14–6. doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2003.11.004. PMID 15041124.
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9404EEDC143BF937A35751C0A962948260
- ^ http://www.humc.edu/calendar/careacc.html
- ^ a b http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952517,00.html
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952514,00.html
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952514,00.html
- ^ http://www.cdc.gov/ART/
- ^ http://www.obgmanagement.com/srm/pdf/first_live_birth_donation.pdf
- ^ http://www.obgmanagement.com/srm.asp?id=5030
- ^ a b Anderson BJ, Haimovici F, Ginsburg ES, Schust DJ, Wayne PM (2007). "In vitro fertilisation and acupuncture: clinical efficacy and mechanistic basis". Altern Ther Health Med 13 (3): 38–48. PMID 17515023.
- ^ Manheimer E, Zhang G, Udoff L, et al. (March 2008). "Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilisation: systematic review and meta-analysis". BMJ 336 (7643): 545–9. doi:10.1136/bmj.39471.430451.BE. PMID 18258932.
- ^ Humaidan P, Stener-Victorin E (June 2004). "Pain relief during oocyte retrieval with a new short duration electro-acupuncture technique--an alternative to conventional analgesic methods". Hum. Reprod. 19 (6): 1367–72. doi:10.1093/humrep/deh229. PMID 15105387.
- ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (2000-03-10). "John Rock's Error". The New Yorker. http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_03_10_a_rock.htm. Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
- ^ Monash IVF website's "History of IVF" article.
- ^ The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine website
- ^ a b Kyono K, Uto H, Nakajo Y, Kumagai S, Araki Y, Kanto S (January 2007). "Seven pregnancies and deliveries from non-mosaic Klinefelter syndrome patients using fresh and frozen testicular sperm". J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 24 (1): 47–51. doi:10.1007/s10815-006-9079-4. PMID 17177108.
- ^ Okada H, Goda K, Muto S, Maruyama O, Koshida M, Horie S (November 2005). "Four pregnancies in nonmosaic Klinefelter's syndrome using cryopreserved-thawed testicular spermatozoa". Fertil. Steril. 84 (5): 1508. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.05.033. PMID 16275253.
- ^ Biography,http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P003036b.htm
- ^ Ayers C (2004). "Mother wins $1m for IVF mix-up but may lose son". Timesonline. [1].
- ^ Lawson, Dominic. Of course a deaf couple want a deaf child, The Independent, March 11, 2008
- ^ Appel, Jacob. MORE 'DESIGNER' OPTIONS The Winnipeg Sun March 12, 2009
- ^ Parks, Jennifer A. (1996). "A closer look at reproductive technology and postmenopausal motherhood.". CMAJ 154 (8): 1189–91. PMID 8612255.
- ^ Appel JM (2006). "May doctors refuse infertility treatments to gay patients?". Hastings Cent Rep 36 (4): 20–1. doi:10.1353/hcr.2006.0053. PMID 16898357.
- ^ M. Dolan. State high court may give gays another victory. Los Angeles Times May 29, 2008.
- ^ M. Dolan. California doctors can't refuse treatment to gays on religious grounds, court rules. Los Angeles Times.19 August 2008
- ^ Pope Paul VI (1968-07-25). "Humanae Vitae: Encyclical of Pope Paul VI on the Regulation of Birth". Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-25.
- ^ a b "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Vatican. 1993. http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm#III. Retrieved on 2008-11-25. "section 2376"
- ^ Haas, John M., Ph.D., S.T.L.. "Begotten Not Made: A Catholic View of Reproductive Technology". http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/98rlphaa.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-11-25.
- ^ a b Hammoud AO, Gibson M, Stanford J, White G, Carrell DT, Peterson M (2009). "In vitro fertilization availability and utilization in the United States: a study of demographic, social, and economic factors". Fertility and Sterility 91: 1630–1635. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.10.038. PMID 18539275.
- ^ a b c d e Chambers GM, Sullivan EA, Ishihara O, Chapman MG, Adamson GD (June 2009). "The economic impact of assisted reproductive technology: a review of selected developed countries". Fertil. Steril. 91 (6): 2281–94. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2009.04.029. PMID 19481642.
Further reading
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