RESEARCH by Oxford fertility experts could lead to significant improvements in treatment for women undergoing IVF.
A study carried out at Oxford Fertility based in Cowley found a less common shorter treatment cycle yielded equal results to the more widely used long cycle treatment.
The results mean many patients could potentially cut the number of weeks they are required to take medication during the treatment, which can cause side effects similar to going through the menopause such as hot flushes and sickness, while also reducing the number of clinic visits.
The findings will be presented at Fertility 2019, the UK’s largest fertility conference which is running this week.
Medical director at Oxford Fertility professor Tim Child, said: “With more than 21,000 frozen embryo transfers each year in the UK, if all clinics adopt short cycle frozen embryo transfer, thousands of women could reduce the number of days they take medicine and avoid unpleasant side effects whilst achieving the same success rates.”
The clinic looked at 578 patients over a two year period, split across two groups - one undergoing long cycle frozen embryo transfer and the other undergoing short cycle frozen embryo transfer.
The study found both approaches achieve similar pregnancy, miscarriage and live birth rates.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here