IVF breakthrough ‘could boost success rate’
Louisa Sherlock
Associate EditorIt will be welcome news for anyone struggling to get pregnant
Scientists have developed a new test that could end the ‘element of chance’ with IVF – leading to more babies being born.
The fertility treatment currently has a success rate of 32% for women under 35. This drops to just 11% for women aged 40-42 according to NHS figures.
But that could change after experts at the University of California created a new test to pick out the lab-grown embryos with the best chance of success.
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Study co-author Professor Irene Su said: ‘Unfortunately, IVF success still involves a big element of chance. But that's something we're hoping our research can change.’
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What is the new test?
At the moment, fertility doctors either visually look at embryos or take biopsies to check their 'quality’.
But the new technique looks at the genetic material left behind in petri dishes that have been used to grow eggs then fertilised in the lab.
Writing in the journal Cell Genomics Dr Su said: ‘Right now, the best way we have to predict embryo outcome involves looking at embryos and measuring morphological characteristics or taking some cells from the embryo to look at genetic makeup, both of which have limitations.
'What we've done is more akin to looking at what's left behind at an archeological site to help us learn more about who lived there and what they did.
'IVF is challenging enough as it is, so it was extremely important to us that our research didn't interfere with this already-delicate process.’
How does IVF work?
IVF stands for in vitro fertilisation. It's one of several techniques that can help couples who are struggling to conceive naturally.
It works by collecting a woman's eggs and manually fertilising them with sperm in a laboratory.
If fertilisation is successful, the egg becomes an embryo and this is then transferred back inside the body, into the woman's womb to grow and develop over the next nine months.
According to data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), around 55,000 Brits had IVF in 2021.
What is the IVF success rate?
The latest figures from the HFEA show pregnancy rates using fresh embryo transfers have increased, rising from 10% in 1991 to 29% in 2021.
The NHS data (from 2019) shows the younger you are when you have the fertility treatment, the greater your chances of success. The percentage of IVF treatments that resulted in a live birth was:
- 32% for women under 35
- 25% for women aged 35 to 37
- 19% for women aged 38 to 39
- 11% for women aged 40 to 42
- 5% for women aged 43 to 44
- 4% for women aged over 44
How much does IVF cost?
Women under the age of 40 who are struggling to get pregnant should get three cycles of IVF on the NHS. However, not everyone is offered this – it depends on where you live.
There are also certain rules in certain areas, for example, some couples who have a 'living child' are not entitled to IVF.
To pay for IVF privately can cost between £3,500-£7,000 according to research from one fertility website.
'Anything that boosts the IVF success rate is welcome’
Netmums' Associate Editor Louisa Sherlock had IVF in 2012. Her son Huxley is now 11 and she says:
'‘Going through IVF is the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. Reading the low success rate, you feel like you’re on the back foot before you’ve even started.
‘I was 37 and had been trying to get pregnant for five years. We paid for our cycle – our amazing family chipped in towards the cost – and I veered between being convinced it would work to being in floods of tears that it wouldn’t.
‘We were treated by fertility doctors at what was then a new clinic in Epsom, Surrey. While they were amazing, it all felt so out of our hands as my eggs were collected and the embryos grown in the lab.
'Luckily it worked, and I'm still in awe of the science behind IVF.
'Any tests that can boost IVF success rates are very welcome and I really hope this is a major breakthrough that will help others.'
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