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IVF CLINIC & LABORATORY GYNÉ INVITRO  Michael Singer, M.D.

 

NEWS by Gyné invitro


July 26, 2020

Success rates 2019

A click on the table will show additional information:

 

 

In 2019, our team was rewarded with 47% pregnancies in fresh, and 53% in thawing cycles. With pre­implantation testing (see thawed euploid blastocysts in the table) we could even observe 66% pregnancies despite a high average female age of 38.5 years. The average number of transferred embryos dropped from 1.8 (2015) to 1.1 (2019) while maintaining success rate - a very welcome consequence of the new Swiss Reproductive Medicine Act!

 

January 5, 2018

Kick-off for preimplantation genetic testing

Now it is reality: Gyné invitro offers pre­implan­tation genetic testing (PGD) and screening (PGS) effective immedia­tely, for which we already see a great demand.

 

The cantonal permission for PGD/PGS rewards our huge effort in introducing the new technologies and updating our quality management system, which was extensively scrutinised by the authorities. We are very happy and will use the new methods in a sensitive manner.

 

Facts about PGD/PGS (see updated details):

 

who is a candidate for PGS?

  • Women over 38 years
  • Prior early miscarriage
  • Prior embryo transfers with unexplained implantation failure
  • Extremely low sperm count of the male partner
  • Determination not to transfer embryos with wrong number of chromosomes

how does pgs work?

  • No immediate embryo transfer
  • Biopsy and cryopreservation of suitable embryos on day 5 or 6
  • Four weeks later, the first embryo with normal chromosomes can be transferred
  • Success rate approx. 60% independently from age (but only 60% of those aged 41-42 have an embryo transfer at all)

additional cost

  • depends on the number of embryos tested
  • basic price 3600 CHF
  • the additional cost is only charged if there are suitable blastocysts for testing on day 5 or 6
 

 

December 31, 2017

Identification of fertility-seeking couples

The liberalised Swiss law on reproductive medicine, in effect since September 2017, brought along …

 

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…  - together with many long-awaited changes - significantly tightened requirements on Swiss IVF laboratories. We have extensively re-worked our quality management system and introduce photo ID and barcode identifications in every instance when we accept sperm or eggs from patients (including simple treatments like inseminations). The system is paperless and fully electronical.

 

 

Every fertility-seeking couple is asked to send a smartphone picture of photo identifications with signatures. Internally, every couple is attributed a unique ten-digit numeric code which unequivocally links both partners. Prior to producing sperm, every male partner is being identified based on his photo ID saved in the patients' file. He will be given a barcode sticker and asked to check all data. In our IVF laboratory, standard operating procedures with witnessing (four-eyes principle), barcode reader and automatic logging are in operation.

 

A flexible and cost-saving solution for our patients

 

Unlike commercial systems like Gidget, our customised software (developped by Dr. Singer himself) is more flexible and saves our patients license fees of some 40 Euro per treatment. Thanks God, our small team has never been confronted with a mix-up; still, we consider those technical aids up to date and confidence-building.

 

December 25, 2016

Gyné invitro - Success rates 2016

At the end of a very busy year, we are grateful for the trust and confidence placed in us. Our in-house clinic and cleanroom IVF laboratory «Gyné invitro», which was opened in April, is working impeccably and has already produced many pregnancies. In 2016, we could achieve 61 pregnancies in 123 fresh cycles (49.6% at an average age of 36.8 years), i.e. we maintained exactly the already high success rate of the previous year. Next year, we are looking forward to the enactment of the liberalised Swiss law in September 2017, which will enable us to introduce pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) in selected cases.

 


Photo collage of all 65 successful embryo transfers that I performed between April 2016 (the opening of our clinic Gyné invitro) and the end of 2016, i.e. those who produced a clinical pregnancy. Every birth of a healthy baby after successful IVF still leaves us fascinated and deeply humbled.

 

March 20, 2016

On the occasion of Swiss public vote of June 5th, 2016:
what is preimplantation genetic diagnosis?

A hot political topic in Switzerland. In 2015, the Swiss voted by a very clear margin of 62% to 38% in favour of a liberalisation of reproductive medicine. Opposition arose against pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, more specifically against testing of embryos in cases of infertility (as opposed to genetic testing only in cases of known inherited genetic disorders), which is why the resulting law was challenged and will be subject to another public vote on June 5th, 2016. In case of another YES - which we are hoping for, together with the whole reproductive medicine community of Switzerland - we could offer the technique mentioned below starting in 2017.

 

The human chromosomes

Men and women possess 46 chromosomes each. A woman (left) has two X chromosomes, a man (right) one X and one Y.

 
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Even in young couples, the majority of naturally conceived embryos has an abnormal chromosome count, mostly because the female egg, which should give one copy of each chromosome to the embryo, gives two (leading to a trisomy) or zero (leading to a monosomy) instead. This phenomenon is called new mutation, more specifically non-disjunction and increases exponentially with the age of the woman; it represents the biological background for the steep decrease in fertility and increase in miscarriages in women over the age of 35 years.

 

It was not before 2015 that embryos could be reliably tested before implantation; in earlier years, the method was not precise enough, and even today, embryo biopsy (either on day 3 or, increasingly, on day 5) is a high-tech endeavour. The removed cells will then be examined in a highly specialised laboratory. In couples with inherited genetic disease, the method is termed PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis); when embryos are examined for new mutations like trisomies or monosomies, we talk about PGS (preimplantation genetic screening). In the well-known centre in Valencia (Spain), the proportion of abnormal embryos in function of female age was examined:

 

Proportion of abnormal embryos depending on female age

Blue columns: the proportion of abnormal embryos increases continuously from 69% in the age group below 35 years to literally 91% with 42 years.

 

Red columns: in the majority of patients over 40 years, no embryo transfer was possible because no healthy embryos were available.

 

Next, the Spanish investigators examined the effects of transferring only genetically normal embryos. The effects are impressive (see graph below): even women over 40 can have pregnancy rates above 50% and hardly suffer miscarriages.

 

transfer of embryos with normal chromosome distribution

Blue colums: if normal embryos are available, women can attain pregnancy rates over 50% almost independently of their age.

 

Red columns: the frequency of miscarriages (which would otherwise approach 50% in women over 40!) remains low.

 

The «de-selection» of genetically abnormal embryos induces political and ethical opposition. Is it correct that PGS enables us to cold-heartedly eliminate embryos which could have lived? To find the answer, we need to look at another graph.

 

distribution of chromosomal errors among the 24 chromosomes

In a study from New York, 1069 embryos with numerical maldistribution of chromosomes were examined.

 

Only 4% had trisomy 21, the remaining 96% suffered from another of the 46 possible maldistributions (click on image to show the original data).

 

Only trisomy 21 can produce living children (with different levels of handicap and malformations). All other 96% embryos were unfit for life in the first place. They would have produced a failed IVF cycle or, worse, a miscarriage which is painful both psychologically and physically, and makes the couple lose even more precious time.

 

An embryo biopsy (image on the right) with consecutive PGS can be considered in the following situations:

  • Recurrent miscarriages after IVF
  • Recurrent unexplained implantation failures after IVF
  • Extremely low sperm counts
  • Advanced maternal age (e.g. above 38 years)
 

 

SUMMARY

  • Pre-implantation genetic testing with aneuploidy screening (PGS) is a promising and contemporary tool which is legal in most parts of Europe. It serves a minority of IVF couples, i.e. those in difficult situations and/or those whose time is melting away.

  • By far not all IVF couples will resort to PGS, given the effort, complexity and additional cost, only those with a clear medical indication.

  • Over 95% of abnormal embryos on PGS are completely unfit for implantation or would have produced painful miscarriages, increasing time to achieve a pregnancy and extra economic cost.

  • PGS improves the efficiency of difficult treatments and prevents miscarriages. In older women with little time, it can make the difference between having a child or remaining childless.

 

The societal controversy on pre-implantation vs. prenatal testing for trisomy 21 will be dealt with on a separate page. As a principle, no woman should ever be forced to undergo a «trial pregnancy», i.e. being denied PGS and have to do prenatal testing at eleven weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of consecutive termination of pregnancy.

January 10, 2016

Gyné invitro: Interview in «Weltwoche», January 2016

If your German is good enough, this was my detailed comment on a celebrity pregnancy of a woman aged just over fifty years. It gave me the opportunity to communicate some key facts about the woman's biological clock.

 

 

Link to complete text as PDF

 

November 18, 2012

Cumulative success rate of IVF

We share the joy of every couple getting pregnant at the very first IVF attempt. Statistically, however, most couples need several attempts. The renowned scientific group from IVI Valencia in Spain analysed their own data in order to determine the number of embryos needed to achieve a live birth:

 

probability of live birth according to age group

(Garrido et al., Fertility and Sterility 2011)

 

The graph on the right underscores the massive connection between age and success rate. After transferring ten embryos, the probability for a baby is 70% in a woman under 35 years, 65% between 35 and 37 years, 60% between 38 and 40 years and only 30% beyond 40 years.

 
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probability of live birth according to age group (donor eggs)

(Garrido et al., Fertility and Sterility 2012)

 

The same graph with donor eggs shows no connection to female age at all (Garrido et al., Fertility and Sterility 2012). This proves that it's only the woman's ovaries that are ageing, while the rest of the body is perfectly fit to carry a pregnancy until 45 or maybe 50 years of age.

 

do i have an implantation problem ?

Many patients are in doubt about their body already after one or two failed attempts. They wrongly assume that their bodies «did not accept» or even «rejected» the embryo(s). It is a fact that way too many tests for so-called implantation problems are carried out too early worldwide. The following graph in German shows that some testing should only be performed after having transferred six to ten embryos without success.

 

probability of failure

(Juan Garcia Velasco / Tin-Chiu Li, Annual meeting of ESHRE 2012, Istanbul, Turkey)

 

Probability of failure according to number of embryos transferred (left column). Red column = fresh cycles in women below 35 years of age, blue column = thawing cycles or fresh cycles in women over 40. Only if the percentage drops below 30%, one could assume an implantation problem.

 

workup of supposed implantation problems

Only hysteroscopy and laparoscopy with removal of obstacles to implantation (like fibroids, polyps and liquid-filled Fallopian tubes) are of proven success. Testing for blood clotting disorders and immunological problems is very controversial worldwide; let us counsel you.

 

do not give up / do not have second thoughts too early

The statistics above show that you should not doubt your body nor the medical team too early. Pick an IVF centre where you feel comfortable and go through a series of treatments without questioning every detail.