In Vitro Fertility Goddess

Mild IVF, Thanks.

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I have written on this topic before (Soft IVF) but I am excited about it so feel the need to write more. Well if it's something exciting clearly it can't be to do with infertility, you may think. Surprising, I know, but it is.

Every now and then in the dark gloomy world of lab tests, nocturnal medical visits and pain there appears a glimmer of hope, something that for some will make a difference and I think the new form of IVF, known as ‘mild' or ‘soft' just may.

It's still in its embryonic stages (terrible pun, I know) and was presented for the first time at a fertility conference in London in May. Basically it is given its ‘mild' classification because it uses less drugs.

'Yes, right, well, she needs to get out more if that's exciting', you think and yes I admit I haven't been out much since the fun-filled wine and cheese night at the IVF clinic, and only last year there was the thrill of my hysterectomy and all, but let me explain.

To quote Professor Bart Fauser, head or reproductive medicine at the University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, he says that the number one benefit is safety.

Less drugs equals less nasty side effects such as ovarian hyperstimulation and mood swings. And husbands also enjoy improved safety as less objects are hurled at them.

What about success though? In a study conducted by Prof Bauer over the past three years he studied 400 women, half of whom were given four courses of ‘mild' IVF with one embryo put back and the other half had three courses of the normal hard core stuff with two embryos put back.  Forty-five percent of each group had a live birth to a healthy child.

With clinics increasingly encouraging single embryo transfers, and the known risks involved with multiple births (and let's face it, after all the hassle of getting pregnant, once there wouldn't you rather avoid a difficult pregnancy and potential premature birth if you could? I had both and let me assure you, they are worth avoiding!) mild IVF has a comparably high success rate with the singles.

Professor Fauser acknowledges that by the time women arrive at the decision to do IVF there is a level of desperation that sees them wanting the most aggressive treatment with the idea that it will deliver the best results but is hoping that attitude will change as soft IVF becomes more known and acknowledged. Less is more, even in IVF.

But it isn't a case of getting half the amount of drugs for the same price. Mild IVF costs roughly half the cost per cycle of ‘hard' IVF so not only is the impact on the body a lot less but also the impact on the bank balance.

So couples who become despondent and give up after blowing astronomical amounts of money on two or three cycles, should be able to afford, emotionally and economically to have further tries and thus greatly increase their chances of walking away with a baby. And who can measure the excitement of that?

Jodi Panayotov