Typically, we keep most of our obstetrician graduation and baby announcements to our facebook and twitter accounts, but wanted to post this one to our blog: just received a baby announcement from LW. She was 42 yrs old and underwent clomid-only IVF with a frozen blastocyst transfer. She had previously been rejected from a NJ IVF center because she had too-high of an fsh level (21) and was  told that it was impossible for her to become pregnant using her own eggs. On top of this, her partner had a vasectomy and had to have MESA to collect sperm which was also frozen.

Successes like this one, though not the rule, are the reason why here at New Hope we don’t turn any woman away based purely on something like an fsh level or age.

Congratulations!!

New Hope Fertility Clinic is conducting the first IVF clinical trial to offer patients assisted reproduction treatment with the costs of the procedures included. This means that we cover all medical consulting, blood tests, ultrasound monitoring, IVF procedures and IVF-related medications. Candidates are only responsible for the cost associated with any required pre-screening testing to confirm eligibility. We are enrolling woman between the ages of 18 and 38, who have experienced difficulty conceiving for more than 12 months with no previous IVF attempts.

We recently came across a post on the fertility discussion forum “FertileThoughts.com”: (http://www.fertilethoughts.com/forums/financing-your-ivf/698395-new-york-new-hope.html)… from a woman who had been struggling with infertility came across our clinical trials site (ivfclinicaltrial.com) wrote about her excitement to find:

“…a clinical trial in NYC with the cost of drugs and treatment included…this is for real, I was accepted into the program and had my 1st embryo transfer 11/14 the only cost to me was the trains in and out of the city… if you live in the metro area it is worth looking into and taking the quiz… ivfclinicaltrial.com. Good luck and baby dust to all TTC!!!”

Thanks for the effusive post, and this clinical trial is, in fact, for real. The trial is being run at New Hope in collaboration with the center for Reproductive Medicine at the University of Amsterdam. The trial is designed to compare conventional IVF protocol and minimal-stimulation IVF protocols (Mini IVF™), in terms of both pregnancy rates and treatment costs. Additionally, the study will seek to determine which of the two methods is more patient-friendly by comparing the psychological impact of these two types of IVF treatments, as well as the side effects of medications required by the respective protocols. As each cycle is slightly different, doctors constantly review cycles to fine tune the protocol for each patient, individually, going forward.

The study has been approved and is being monitored by the Human Research Review Committee of the New York Downtown Hospital. We were particularly concerned with making the study as universally applicable as possible, and in order to include a broad representation of infertile patients and couples in the study, we made the clinical trials as financially accessible as possible. We welcome anyone who thinks they might be eligible to take our test: http://ivfclinicaltrial.com/prescreeningquiz.aspx.

Recently there has been discussion of High Resolution Sperm Selection (HRSS) and its positive effect on embryo quality. What is this process and how does it affect embryo quality?

At New Hope we make great efforts to create the highest quality embryos for our patients. The quality of an embryo is determined by the health of both the sperm and the oocyte (egg). Whereas an oocyte is large enough to see in detail under an ordinary microscope (100-200X magnification), sperm cells are far too small to allow us to see details in their physical appearance.

As most of our current and prospective patients know we perform Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) during almost all fertilizations, meaning that our embryologists will choose the sperm they believe to be the healthiest to fertilize the egg. However, without a sense of the physical form (morphology) of a sperm, its health has traditionally been largely based mostly on its ability to travel quickly when compared to its cohort.

At New Hope our embryologists use a newer, state-of-the-art technique often referred to as either High Resolution Sperm Selection (HRSS) or Intracytoplasmic Morphology-selected Sperm Injection (IMSI) in which the sperm is viewed at 6000X magnification using DIC (Differential Interference Contrast) microscopy.

With HRSS or IMSI, an embryologist can view the physical details of the sperm including its shape, size and any other defects it may possess. Sperm quality is based on the “Kruger standard” morphology which states that when a sperm has a good morphological appearance it is more likely to have normal chromosomes and less fragmented DNA, two factors which play a significant role in determining embryo quality, implantation and growth.

Studies have also shown that with the use of HRSS, successful pregnancy rates are increased approximately 15%. Additionally, HRSS has also been shown to decrease the rate of spontaneous abortion during IVF pregnancies. By using HRSS we ensure that our patients receive the best quality embryos possible by injecting only the best quality sperm to into the oocyte.

Ovarian Tissue Transfer

Ovarian tissue transfer, a new and cutting edge method of fertility preservation, has recently been making waves in the news. As an alternative to many fertility care options like traditional, minimal stimulation, and natural IVF, women who hope to extend their ability to have kids to later in life can now freeze sections of their ovarian tissue as a way to  effectively stop their biological clock for use at a later time.

The procedure, which is still quite new, is extremely promising. 20 babies have already been delivered from women who have chosen to freeze their ovarian tissue, and world renowned fertility specialist Dr. Sherman Silber, who is both championing and pioneering this innovation in fertility care, has already preserved the tissue for over 60 women for whom IVF was not an option.

In a prior post, we talk about some of the major reasons why women would want to extend their fertility (link to old post: http://www.newhopefertilityblog.com/archives/89). Three types of women who may want to preserve their fertility are:

1) Women who have been diagnosed with a medical condition that necessitates the removal of their ovaries or who are undergoing some kind of medical treatment, like chemotherapy, that may damage their reproductive system.
2) Women who are in the later half of their middle reproductive years (33-38) who want to defer childbearing either because it is not the right time in their life or they are still looking for a partner.
3) Women who wish to donate their eggs and don’t want to go through all the hormone therapy needed to sync their cycle with the recipients’ cycles before transfer – and conversely, egg donation recipients who will, with time, be exposed to a much larger pool of donors to choose from.

Amy Tucker who underwent chemo-therapy to battle cancer is one such woman who has benefitted from Ovarian Tissue Transfer. The treatment allowed her to defy a reality that she would have faced in the past and she was the first cancer patient in the US who has been able to give birth with her own ovarian tissue. Her son was born in May 2010.

There is, of course, skepticism push back on the idea of Ovarian Tissue transfer – but skepticism and push back seem to often follow innovation and paradigm shifts. Once upon a time people resisted the idea of IVF, dehumanizing and science-fictionalizing it with phrases like “test tube babies,” and yet now it is a commonplace procedure for both women and couples who wish to treat their infertility. We have no reason to believe that with time no one will think twice about freezing their ovarian tissue as a way to preserve their fertility, and we look forward to the day when these scientific advances have paved the path to new, more advanced treatments that can seize the attention of skeptics.

At New Hope Fertility, we always try to make any procedure that we do as straightforward and non-impacting as possible. We minimize financial impact, for example, by accepting most insurance plans and will file your insurance claims to eliminate that administrative burden. When it comes to our IVF treatments, our Natural Cycle IVF and Mini-IVF treatments are less invasive and require less medication which not only makes them gentler, but also means that they tend to be 30-40 percent less expensive than conventional IVF procedures. A full list of our services and associated costs can be found on our website: http://www.newhopefertility.com/cost-of-ivf_infertility-insurance.shtml#package_fees

Minimizing the amount of medication, however, does more than just reduce the cost of IVF procedures — it also reduces the discomfort of treatment. In conventional IVF, highly stimulated/medicated ovaries are larger and more tender which often means that procedures and egg retrievals can be quite painful. With minimal stimulation, ovary size remains very similar to how it would be in a natural cycle making for easier and less painful egg retrieval procedures. In turn, because the procedure is not painful patients are often kept awake doing the procedure allowing our doctors to explain each step of the process in real time and let patients know, for example, immediately how many eggs are retrieved. Patients can even watch egg retrievals happen via a monitor set up with a view from the microscope. Anesthesia can be administered, but is usually only done only on request or in special cases.

At New Hope, 95% of our patients opt for Mini-IVF procedures and the majority of remaining procedures tend to use Natural Cycle IVF. Because the New Hope philosophy is that you only need one good egg to make a healthy baby and we painstakingly seek out quality eggs rather than quantity, we always promote a single-embryo transfer unless otherwise requested by the patient. The pregnancy success rate for a Mini-IVF treatment (averaging 1.4 embryos transferred in each IVF cycle) is competitive with the success rate attained with conventional IVF (even though they often transfer 2-3 eggs per cycle), but without the additional health risks posed by twins or multiple births.

New Hope Fertility Fees for the Mini-IVF treatment are $4,800 per cycle, plus $100 to $400 for IVF drugs. As the largest fertility center in the U.S. offering Mini-IVF and as recognized leaders and experts in this new form of IVF treatment, we welcome any questions you may have.

-John Zhang