‘Four Predictors’ To Improve IVF Odds

Researchers at the Stanford University Medical Center have whittled a list of the four most powerful predictors of whether an IVF (in vitro fertilization) – the major form of assisted reproductive measure - will result in pregnancy or not.

The four factors, namely,
• the total number of embryos developed by a couple during fertilization per cycle,
• the number of embryos that survive to the 8-cell stage,
• the percentage of undeveloped embryos or those that stop dividing,
• and a woman's level of the follicle-stimulating hormone, the hormone that estimates the working of the ovaries;

together help to predict with as high as 70 percent accuracy whether an IVF will result in a pregnancy, Stanford researchers claim.

An IVF (In vitro fertilization) is a process in which the eggs are fertilized with the sperms, outside the woman's womb. The process involves controlling the female’s ovulationdefine process hormonally, collecting the eggs from the woman's ovaries and making them fertilize with the sperms of the male partner in a fluid medium. Aiming an establishment of a successful pregnancy, the fertilized egg is then transferred to the woman’s uterusdefine.

Carrying a success rate of only 33 percent per cycle, the chances of resulting in a successful pregnancy via IVF vary widely primarily depending on woman’s age.

Till date, doctors in IVF clinics focus only on ‘good’ embryo. After complete analysis, the best embryo is selected and passed through the fertilization process and transplanted to the womb.

However, Dr. Mylene Yao, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford and lead author of the study recommends IVF practitioners to follow the four factors as they ‘reflect all the other elements that play a role in a couple's fertility, including a woman's age and her medical history’.