First-of-its-Kind Study Shows Teens Born through an Experimental Fertility Technique Appear in Good Physical and Cognitive Health - Seite 2

"This procedure was a last resort for all of the women involved who had experienced the heartbreak of multiple IVF failures," added Jacques Cohen, Ph.D., an embryologist and co-author. "Not only did they successfully have babies after cytoplasmic transfer, all of their children seem healthy today." 

How Cytoplasmic Transfer Works
Cytoplasm is the liquid portion of an egg that contains many different molecules and tiny parts called organelles. This includes mitochondria that generate energy for the cell. During cytoplasmic transfer, a small amount of cytoplasm from a fertile donor egg is injected into the egg of a woman who is trying to become pregnant through IVF. The egg is then fertilized with sperm and implanted in the uterus.

About the Saint Barnabas Medical Center Study
Between 1996 and 2001, Saint Barnabas Medical Center offered women who had experienced multiple IVF failures and poor in vitro embryo development the opportunity to try an experimental technique called cytoplasmic transfer. Thirty-three couples participated in the study and 14 became pregnant (37 attempts). One singleton pregnancy was lost before a fetal heartbeat could be detected. In total, 13 couples delivered 17 babies from cytoplasmic transfer all of which reported to be healthy at the time of delivery. The study was abandoned in June 2001, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required an Investigational New Drug (IND) application be filed to continue offering the procedure to patients. Due to a lack of funding, Saint Barnabas Medical Center chose not to pursue the IND.       

About The Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas
The Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas (IRMS) is one of the nation's leading fertility centers, providing advanced infertility treatment in a caring and responsive environment. Treatment is individually designed for each patient, and may include intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), ICSI, blastocyst transfer, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), egg or embryo cryopreservation, or egg donation. IRMS has locations in Livingston, Clark, Jersey City, Hackensack, Hoboken, East Windsor, Old Bridge, Long Branch and Westfield, N.J.  

About The ART Institute of Washington
The ART Institute of Washington provides gold standard embryology services to military personnel at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Since 1999, the ART Institute has offered in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and intrauterine Insemination (IUI).

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