IVF :: HFEA consults on ways to reduce avoidable problems for IVF babies

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is launching a public consultation on April 4 to find the best way to reduce avoidable problems for IVF children and their mothers who can suffer serious and long-term complications from twin births.

The HFEA will be listening closely to patients and professionals over the next three months to find the best way of reducing the proportion of multiple births after IVF.

The key aim is to find the most effective way to do this whilst still allowing clinicians to tailor their treatment to each woman’s individual circumstances and without prejudicing her chances of IVF success.

Public meetings for both patients and clinicians will be held during the consultation to allow debate and further feedback into the consultation.

The consultation paper proposes four main options to help clinics reduce multiple birth rates:

Increasing awareness of multiple births risks among clinics and patients and encourage increased use of single embryo transfer
To phase in a maximum twin rate of 10% which clinics must not exceed
To develop HFEA guidance to define when only one embryo should be replaced
To apply HFEA guidance for single embryo transfer if clinics exceed twin rate of 10%

The consultation follows last year’s report by a group of experts, including fertility clinicians and patients, chaired by Professor Peter Braude from King’s College London. The group agreed that IVF children must be given a better chance to be born as healthy, full-term, singletons with a normal birthweight. The Braude report further recommended that the only safe way to reduce the risk for IVF babies was to move towards transferring one embryo in those women with the best chance of IVF success. This would not mean that all women would have a single embryo transferred or that double embryo transfers will be banned. Instead, they suggested that a woman with a good chance of IVF success should have her embryos implanted one at a time, with frozen cycles following the initial fresh transfer, to reduce the risk multiple births pose to herself and the children she might carry.

A number of key professional bodies and patient organisations are expected to participate in the public consultation and the meetings to give their views on the best way to make IVF safer. The consultation is due to report in Autumn 2007.


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