MATURATION IN VITRO: NEW FERTILITY TREATMENT

A new fertility treatment that allows women, who cannot take any medication, can have children. This treatment is called "In Vitro Maturation" better known by its acronym in English as IVM.

In Vitro Maturation is a relatively new procedure, similar to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), but with one notable difference. IVF using a drug regimen to stimulate a patient's eggs to maturity before they are removed from the ovary; instead on In Vitro Maturation, the eggs are removed while they are still in the immature stage, and bring them to maturity in the laboratory.

Dr. Julio Dueñas, Director of Clinic PROCREAR, explains about the process of this new treatment is helping hundreds of women achieve pregnancy. "As in conventional IVF, the eggs are collected, but when they are immature because they are collected in any time of menstrual cycle. After the eggs are collected, they are matured in an incubator in the laboratory, for one or two days. When the eggs are mature, are injected by each sperm chosen previously under ICSI to achieve fertilization. Sperm comes usually from the partner or a donor. Finally, approximately 48 hours later and it formed the embryo is transferred to the uterus to implant it.

"This type of treatment is recommended when women cannot tolerate the effects of the drugs needed to stimulate the eggs to maturity, for fertility preservation in cancer patients or in women with ovulatorydys function with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)”, Dr. Dueñas asserts.

"Patients do not have to take so many drugs. It is a way to avoid gonadotropins and related risks. It is an alternative not only for patients with PCOS but for any cause of infertility. In Vitro Maturation is less expensive than IVF. It is a shorter treatment compared with IVF and have higher pregnancy rates of 20%per treatment cycle, "said the expert.

Currently, over 400 children have been born worldwide through In Vitro Maturation treatment with no apparent increase in congenital anomalies; so far the In Vitro Maturation treatment appears to be safe.