15 eggs - the key to successful delivery after IVF
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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A group of researchers from the University of Birmingham subjected to an analysis with addiction the statistics of the UK's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for 400 135 IVF attempts in the UK from 1991 to 2008.
Scientists concluded that the optimal number of eggs that need to be withdrawn during a single menstrual cycle in a woman for fertilization in vitro is an average of 15. The criterion of optimality was the probability of successful delivery, rather than successful implantation of the embryo, as insisted on earlier studies with smaller samples.
The probability of producing a live child as a result of IVF is slowly reduced if a woman is seized from 15 to 20 eggs, and falls if more than 20 eggs are seized in one menstrual cycle. It is assumed that the study and its main result - a nomogram showing the relationship between the age of a woman, the number of eggs seized and the chance of successful delivery, is a great practical medical value. The fact is that the average number of eggs that was withdrawn from a single menstrual cycle for British women for IVF was 9. Perhaps, many physicians will reconsider their views on the limits of permissible drug-induced ovarian stimulation of donors.
IVF (in vitro fertilization) involves the fertilization of sperm of eggs in the laboratory with the subsequent transplantation of several embryos at an early stage of development into the uterus. Since the procedure is complex and expensive, some embryos are frozen for repeated implantation attempts. The study, conducted by a group from the University of Birmingham, does not include the layout of data on "fresh" and thawed embryos. In addition, when scientists value a large sample size, do not forget about the development of medical technologies over 17 years, which inevitably affects the relevance of the data.
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