Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have reported that stem cells obtained from mouse and human ovaries (in separate experiments) produced viable egg cells that could later be fertilized and develop into healthy embryos.

The research team, led by Johnathan Tilly at Mass General hope the findings can open the doors to finding more ways to help those battling infertility, an issue that affects 7.3 million women and their partners in the United States alone.  If the research is indeed confirmed, fertility doctors may have another possible option in treating those with fertility related issues and/or those women wishing to preserve their fertility.

Upon reading the report in the Nature Medicine journal, our founder, Dr. John Zhang, finds the research promising, hoping it means “we can one day produce healthy oocytes (egg) cells from ovaries that may be past their reproductive prime through the use of stem cells.”

We’re happy to report on this advance in the field of stem cells that contributes directly to the field of reproductive medicine.  Our clinic continues to also conduct work with stem cells, and we look forward to reporting on future stories in this area of scientific research.

1) 46 y/o recently returned a positive pregnancy test after Ultra Mini-IVF (no injections) and a frozen embryo transfer created through our Natural Cycle IVF treatment.  This will be her first child, and she elected to freeze her remaining embryos as well.  She will be 47 y/o on her due date!  Congratulations!

2) 40 y/o came to New Hope wishing to try our Natural Cycle IVF, which requires no medications.  She recently returned a positive pregnancy test after her single embryo transfer.  Congrats!

3) 35 y/o came to NHFC for her first child.  She got pregnant after a frozen embryo transfer created through our Mini-IVF™ treatment.  Congrats!

4) 41 y/o came to New Hope for her first baby and struggling with male factor infertility.  After undergoing our TESA procedure with male infertility specialist Dr. Sherman Silber she was able to get pregnant with a frozen embryo transfer created through Mini-IVF™.  Congratulations!

5) 45 y/o came back to New Hope for her second child.  She got pregnant with her first child after 4 failed IVF treatments elsewhere that resulted in 3 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy.  She previously got pregnant through NHFC with a frozen embryo transfer and will be using her embryos that she kept in our egg bank to try for her second.  Good luck!

1) 43 y/o came back to try for her 2nd child at New Hope (she had her 1st at 41 y/o).  She decided to use our Donor Egg Program (one of the best Egg Donor Programs in the Tri-state area).  She had a frozen embryo transfer using our Egg Donor program and got pregnant.  Congratulations!

2) 29 y/o came to New Hope with a history of secondary infertility.  She had 1 Mini-IVF™ cycle and a frozen single embryo transfer and came back with a positive pregnancy test.  Congrats!

Our resident infertility psychologist, Dr. Allison Rosen, took some time recently to give our readers and patients a more detailed look into SART’s 2010 IVF Success Rates and what they mean for you and your fertility journey with New Hope.  Many thanks to Dr. Rosen for this in-depth report!

The 2010 Society of Assisted Reproduction Statics are in, demonstrating that New Hope Fertility Center is, hands down, the best reproductive program in the Tri-state area, or possibly the country, for family building using donor eggs.  Not only is New Hope’s program the most convenient, but the safest, least expensive, and most successful Donor Egg Program compared to other fertility clinic donor programs.

Due to innovative procedures, the donor program is able to “freeze eggs” from donors, thereby eliminating the costly need to synchronize the donor and recipient cycles. Thus, the eggs can be retrieved at the convenience of the donor without needing to match to the recipient’s cycle; resulting embryos can be transferred to the recipient with less need for medication and absolutely no need to link with the donor’s cycle.

According to the 2010 SART statistics, NHFC had a live birth rate using thawed donor embryos of 64.2%. This percentage is much higher than any other Tri-state program using frozen eggs and embryos.  Due to the high quality of the embryos, New Hope is able to transfer fewer embryos thereby reducing the number of pregnancies with twins. Although some people would like twins, thinking along the lines of “it’s two for one,” twin pregnancies are more dangerous for both mother and child.  They often result in bed rest and increased premature births.

New Hope Fertility Center allows individuals to pick their donors from its large egg bank.  When you like a donor, the eggs are there, and you don’t have to wade through countless donor profiles until you find a donor who is “available”.  You then select the donor using adult pictures, extensive medical information and personality attributes. YOU select the donor, not your reproductive program. All donors are carefully screened medically and psychologically.

If you want high quality donors you can select to resemble you; if you want the highest success rate in the Tri-state area; if you want the safest and least expensive program, New Hope Fertility can meet all these needs — hands down.

1) 35 y/o secondary infertility due to oligoovulation (irregular ovulation) came to New Hope for her second child.  She was able to get pregnant from a single embryo transfer from Mini-IVF™.  Congratulations on your second pregnancy!

New Hope doctors wanted to take extra precautions to reduce the chance of multiple pregnancy since this patient’s first pregnancy led to the premature birth of her twins (possibly due to conventional IVF protocols), and left her and her babies in the hospital for a good length of time.  By committing to Mini-IVF™ and single embryo transfer protocols, New Hope doctors greatly reduced the risk of this happening again.

2) 39 y/o primary infertility arrived at New Hope also suffering from oligoovulation.  She created several embryos through our Mini-IVF™ protocol and got pregnant with twins from a Natural Cycle frozen embryo transfer.  As with the previous success story, the infertility was due to the inability to ovulate properly, and this patient would have definitely been overstimulated with conventional IVF.  New Hope doctors understood in both aforementioned cases that there was no need for more than a single embryo transfer to reach success since both women had otherwise healthy uterine environments.  Congrats!

3) 39 y/o came to NHFC with a history of primary infertility.  She completed a few Mini-IVF™ cycles with frozen embryo transfers that were unsuccessful.  She had a frozen embryo transfer more recently and came back with a positive pregnancy test.  Congrats!