Background check before IVF

There is a new law in Australia that requires couples seeking IVF treatment to first undergo police background checks. This to to ensure they are fit parents (!).

Well, this is more than just slightly amazing, and the vast majority of couples involved are incredibly offended. They question why they should be investigated while couples having babies naturally are not - what's the difference when it comes to being a fit parent?

From the source news story:

A report from the Victorian Law Reform Commission recommends people should be barred from IVF if they have convictions for serious sexual or violent offences, have had children taken from their care, or are assessed as a potential risk to children.

Choosing the gender of your baby

Perhaps you are considering IVF not because of fertility issues but because you want to choose the gender of your baby. Although many professional organizations frown on this, even establish ethical codes against it in some places, there are many who still want to employ PGD for sex selection. It's a somewhat expensive procedure and added to the overall IVF procedure it might be out of reach for many patients.

Enter "natural sex selection" or "secrets for gender selection" or something similarly named. There are a lot of old wives tales about various positions/foods/incantations that supposedly lead to preference of one sex versus another. There are also clinical studies that show certain environmental factors such as heat, chemicals, etc that lead to an increase in female versus male offspring. Has anybody put this all in one place? Perhaps now they have, and then some.

Pick the Gender of Your Baby claims to have it all covered. Their (partial) list of factors is pretty extensive and includes:

• Certain foods to eat and avoid
• Timing your baby-making sex
• PH levels
• Male factors that include size and depth of penetration (really?!)
• Love making position for a girl versus a boy

And a lot more. Ok, I don't know if this really works but it seems like all the ideas I have ever heard of are detailed in one place so it might be worth a look. And it's a lot cheaper than PGD. Pick up the ebook here.

Bangkok Hospital discounts IVF

I'm a little late posting this news, but Bangkok Hospital announced in March they are offering oocyte pick up and in-vitro fertilization for the price of 80,000 baht, which is approximately US$2,300 at today's exchange rate. But you have to hurry because the special price is valid only until June 30, 2009. More information is available at the Bangkok Hospital website, although you may need to contact the hospital as I did not see this special mentioned on the site.

The debate about public assistance for IVF

ABC News online has a short article about the jump in babies born in Australia through assisted reproduction. There has been a 40% increase in 2006 compared to 2002. That's moderately interesting. But the more interesting part is the debate in the comments section of that article. Much of it revolves around whether or not public funds should be used to pay for IVF treatments. If you step back and look at the overall picture it once again looks like those who support public assistance are the ones who have used it and would not have otherwise been able to get treatment, whereas those against it are taxpayers who don't and won't use it. There is always this split in opinion between those who say pay your own way and those who want the government (which means taxpayers) to pay. Which side do you come down on?

Another cell phone study re male fertility

Another study has just been published that warns men about possible adverse effects of cell phones on their fertility. The online version of Journal of Fertility and Sterility reports that men who keep their cell phones in their pockets or clip them to their belts while in use may be compromising their sperm count. The study involved actually exposing sperm to a cell phone in talk mode for one hour. That does seem to be much more empirical than the anecdotal results that come from surveys. The researches reported that there was a 7% decrease in sperm motility and 11% decrease in viability after the exposure.

Stolen embryos

There have been stories before about custody battles over frozen embryos but this is the first I've heard of the possible theft of embryos. It wasn't a burglary or armed robbery. This allegedly involved forgery by the former girlfriend of the donor male's signature in order to obtain frozen embryos so she could have them implanted. She became pregnant and had a son. The man only learned of it after the child was already 18 months old and the British Child Support Agency contacted him and demanded payments.

Source

3 year wait for donor sperm in Britain

Another update on the donor sperm shortage in Britain. Dr David Farquharson, the clinical director, Women and Reproductive Services, at NHS Lothian, is telling couples seeking IVF with donor sperm that the wait could be up to three years. The crisis has been caused by new legislation which ended the donors' right to anonymity, enabling children born after IVF treatment to make contact with their biological parents. Since that legislation became effective the number of donors has almost completely disappeared. One enterprising couple did a donor recruitment drive, enlisting the help of a local TV station, which helped them move up the list faster. For most couples, however, they must simply wait it out and hope they get to the top of the list before they are too old to be eligible for treatment.

DHEA boosts egg production in older women?

Yes, that's a question. I've long known of DHEA as a popular supplement for men as they get older to help keep hormone levels closer to what they were as young men. The wisdom of that is rather questionable unless there is some real medical need. But apparently some women who are undergoing IVF treatment have been self-medicating (without telling their doctors) with DHEA and had a surprising increase in number of eggs harvested. The Center for Human Reproduction in New York began exploring the effects of DHEA in 2004 when they learned that an older patient of theirs had been taking the drug without telling them. Other fertility specialists have been discussing this but no clinical trials have been performed. Doctors also advise that high doses of DHEA can have adverse side effects so you should consult your doctor about it.

Womb on a chip

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are experimenting with a "womb-on-a-chip", an alternative to the petri dish for use in IVF. The hope is that this new approach will improve IVF results.

This artificial high tech "womb" is comprised of a silicon chip on which a bed of uterus cell have been cultured. An egg is deposited on the chip and sperm are added to fertilize it. Then a micropump continuously applies a wash of culture fluids to the early embryos until they are ready to be implanted a real womb.

Research is currently underway using eggs and sperm from mice. Possible use for human IVF is still a ways off.