Fertility clinic adopts new measures to cut multiple pregnancies

August 1, 2008

Southampton-based Wessex Fertility at The Freya Centre is adopting a number of new measures and IVF techniques aimed at reducing multiple pregnancy rates in line with new HFEA targets.  In particular, the clinic has introduced an IVF technique known as blastocyst culture.

Blastocyst culture involves allowing embryos to mature further in laboratory conditions before attempting to transfer them to the uterus.  In most IVF clinics, embryos are normally transferred two to three days after egg collection.  However, in natural cycles, embryos would not normally reach the uterus until day five; this is called the blastocyst stage of development. 

Recent evidence suggests that, for some patients, waiting to day five allows the embryologist to identify embryos with the best potential of achieving a pregnancy.  The clinic can then be more confident in transferring fewer, in some cases single, embryos which reduces the likelihood of multiple pregnancies.

Dr. Chantal Simonis, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Wessex Fertility at the Freya Centre, commented: “Our most recent statistics show that we are already in line with HFEA guidelines as our twin pregnancy rate is consistently below 10%. without us having introduced our new measures yet.  By doing blastocyst culture, we are aiming to improve our overall pregnancy success rate without an associated increase in multiple birth rate.

Where blastocyst culture is concerned, each case would need to be discussed on a case-by-case basis and considered carefully as needs and circumstances are different for every couple.  Blastocyst culture would certainly benefit women who might be putting themselves at risk due to certain health complications and where twins are more common, but we would not advocate a general move towards this technique alone and would emphasise the need to evaluate what is best for each individual patient.”

Dr. Sue Ingamells, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the clinic, added: “The greatest benefit of blastocyst transfer is for patients who have a good chance of becoming pregnant, but who also have the greatest risk of having a twin pregnancy if two embryos are transferred. It is usually possible to identify this group of women, and there is hope that the transfer of a single embryo can reduce the incidence of twin pregnancies, without reducing the overall chance of pregnancy.”