Category Archives: Embryology

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Jul-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 1 July 2014: The rapid freezing technique of vitrification is set to revolutionise egg donation as a fertility treatment by enabling freeze-storage egg-banking. The cryopreservation of eggs was one of IVF's continuing challenges until the widespread introduction of vitrification; the older slow freezing methods induced the formation of ice crystals, which could cause damage to several structures of the egg. Thus, as demand for egg donation increases as a treatment for age-related infertility, egg banking with vitrification can theoretically provide a large pool of donor eggs without the present need for collection, fertilisation and transfer in a "fresh" treatment cycle (in which the donor and recipient's cycles are hormonally synchronised). There is now increasing evidence that egg banking with vitrification is a viable process in egg banking programmes. However, little is known about success rates and how many vitrified eggs a recipient will need to maximise her chance of pregnancy - questions which are now answered in a study reported today at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Munich by Dr Ana Cobo of the Valencia Infertility Institute (IVI) in Valencia, Spain, one … Continue reading →

Embryology and gross anatomy 1 By: whirl00 … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Jun-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 30 June 2014: A large multicentre trial seems finally to have resolved one of IVF's long-running controversies - whether the outlook for women with a poor IVF record can be improved by routine hysteroscopy performed before further IVF treatment.(1) For the TROPHY study, whose results are reported today at the 30th Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Munich by Dr Tarek El-Toukhy from Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital, London, has now found no significant difference in IVF success rates between those who had outpatient hysteroscopy performed before their IVF and those who didn't. "Based on these findings, outpatient hysteroscopy before IVF doesn't significantly improve IVF results and cannot be considered essential for women with recurrent IVF failure," said Dr El-Toukhy. Only around one-third of IVF cycles achieve a pregnancy, and unsuccessful attempts (implantation failure) can usually be explained by embryonic or uterine factors. As a result, outpatient hysteroscopy is performed routinely in many fertility clinics before further attempts, first diagnostically to visualise the surface of the uterus and check for any abnormal growths, and then operatively during the same procedure to remove these growths. … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Jun-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 30 June 2014: There is "little evidence" that the use of conventional fertility hormones used for ovarian stimulation in the treatment of infertility increases the long-term risk of breast and gynecological cancers, according to the results of a substantial 30-year follow-up study. However, the extended use of clomiphene citrate was associated with a higher risk of breast cancer among women who had used the fertility drug for 12 cycles or more. Gonadotrophins, more commonly used for ovarian stimulation today, were not generally associated with any increased risk, except in a sub-group of women who remained childless after treatment. Results of the study, which was in part funded by the National Institutes of Health of the USA, are presented today at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE by Dr Humberto Scoccia from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. Dr Louise Brinton of the US National Cancer Institute was principal investigator.(1) The study was a retrospective investigation involving 12,193 women treated for infertility between 1965 and 1988 at five US sites. Follow-up lasted until 2010, with evaluation based on questionnaire and linkage to US death … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Jun-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 30 June 2014: Children born to women with fertility problems have a higher risk of psychiatric disorders than naturally conceived children. The increase in risk was described as "modest" by researchers from Denmark, but was found to persist throughout childhood and into young adulthood. The results, which are presented today at the 30th Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Munich by Dr Allan Jensen of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center at the University of Copenhagen, were derived from a register study of all children born in Denmark between 1969 and 2006. From a grand total of 2,430,826 children, 124,384 (5%) were born to women with registered fertility problems and 2,306,442 children (95%) to women without such problems. All the children were followed up for psychiatric disorders until 2009. During this follow-up period (a median of around 20 years), 170,240 children were hospitalised for a psychiatric disorder. Those born to women with fertility problems were found to have a 33% greater overall risk of any defined psychiatric disorders, which was statistically significant (HR 1.33, 95% confidence interval 1.20-1.36). Statistically significant hazard ratios for specific … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Jun-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 30 June 2014: Despite emerging evidence of a decline in sperm quality with increasing age, an analysis of every first fertility treatment cycle performed in the UK using sperm donation shows that outcome in terms of live birth is not affected by the age of the sperm donor. Results from the study, said its principal investigator Dr Meenakshi Choudhary, from the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, reaffirm the observation that a couple's fertility appears significantly more dependent on the age of the female partner than on that of the male. The results of the study are reported this week at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Munich by Dr Choudhary's colleague, Commonwealth Clinical Fellow Dr Navdeep Ghuman. Their conclusions were derived from an analysis of all UK treatment cycles with sperm donation registered by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) between 1991 and 2012. From a total of more than 230,000 sperm donation cycles, 39,282 were from a first cycle of treatment (with either IVF or donor insemination) and were included in the analysis (a first cycle … Continue reading →

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) June 27, 2014 Recognized internationally for his expertise as an embryologist and researcher, Joseph Conaghan, PhD, presented at the Irish Fertility Societys 8th Annual Scientific Meeting in Dublin on May 16 and 17, and at the Third Annual Canadian Embryology Summit in Toronto on May 31. Dr. Conaghan is Clinical Laboratory Director at Pacific Fertility Center. Founded in 2005, the Irish Fertility Society represents a broad cross section of individuals working in the area of infertility, including doctors, scientists, nurses, counselors, and administrative staff. At its annual meeting, Dr. Conaghan spoke about the use of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) and time-lapse imaging to promote the wider application of elective single embryo transfer (eSET) with in vitro fertilization (IVF). PGS helps identify embryos with chromosomal abnormalities. Time-lapse imaging allows laboratory staff to noninvasively observe early cell development to help identify the healthiest embryos. Combined, these techniques have made it increasingly possible to transfer a single embryo, thereby minimizing the risk of multiple births while maintaining high pregnancy rates. Also focused on topics relevant to the field of human IVF, the Canadian Embryology Summit is targeted to the interests of clinical embryologists. At its recent meeting, Dr. Conaghan … Continue reading →

Gracie Crane was one of the first children conceived from donor embryo Born before the 1998 Embryology Act, she has no right to know who her biological parents are Despite her parents unconditional love, Gracie says she can't truly feel part of a family that doesn't share her genetics Not knowing who she is makes Gracie wish she'd never been born Gracie wants to be a mother one day, but says her experiences mean she would never have a child through donor conception Every year 2,000 people opt for egg, sperm or embryo donation in Britain By Helen Carroll Published: 16:09 EST, 25 June 2014 | Updated: 03:56 EST, 26 June 2014 230 shares 465 View comments Sitting on the stage alongside classmates during her schools annual open day, Gracie Crane scanned the faces of the proud parents before her. It was like a guessing game, matching each beaming, waving adult in the crowd to the pupil: a cut of a chin, a facial expression, a shock of pale hair. You could usually work out who belonged to whom. Catching sight of her ginger-haired mother and fair-skinned father filing in, beaming at her, Gracie felt the usual pang of sadness … Continue reading →

marion brown/staff photographer Zoe Singer (left) explains her project advocating for port-a-cath chemotherapy infusion to Lucy Fern, coordinator for the RHS Academy for Health Professions. Ridgewood High School (RHS) senior Julia Sullivan got to use a laser this school year. That was pretty cool. But more importantly, for her capstone project for Ridgewood High School's Academy for Health Professions (RAHP), Sullivan helped The Valley Hospital's Embryology Laboratory director, Dr. Kim Gleason, execute a study that could help embryologists with the laser-assisted biopsy of human embryos for genetic testing, by switching the standard biopsy procedure from Day 3 to Day 2 of development. "Although the laser has been shown in clinical trials to be perfectly safe for use on embryos, it obviously does something that changes the way the embryo wants to break out of its shell ... That abnormal orientation of the blastocyst presents enormous challenges to embryologists who are trying to biopsy that embryo in the laboratory for genetic testing," Gleason explained. "[Julia] did show that [thanks to newer laser technology, younger and more fragile] embryos could be hatched on Day 2, the previous taboo timing, and that they would not only continue to grow normally, but they would … Continue reading →

Science Project: Body Structures, Vestigial Organs, Embryology, and Descent with Modification My Science Project. By: Jon Mak … Continue reading →