Improving IVF success rates with new genetic testing

Author: IVANHOE CONTENT
Published: Updated:

Infertility impacts millions of people worldwide. One in six women will have difficulty having a baby.

Many reasons, including age, health and other factors, can cause trouble conceiving.

Many couples struggling with infertility turn to in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

Right now, the overall birth rate due to IVF is only 20 to 40% in females younger than 40 years old.

Those odds could improve thanks to new research.

From sleep time to feeding time and all the times in between, moments like these are a dream come true for hundreds of thousands of new moms and dads each year, but getting to this point can be a long journey for some couples.

“Since the birth of the first IVF baby in 1978, we’ve made great strides in the science of fertility care, especially in IVF, but I do think that it’s often a misconception that this is going to be the solve all,” said Dr. H. Irene Su, reproductive endocrinologist at UC San Diego Health.

A major challenge in IVF is identifying which embryos have the best chance of a successful pregnancy.

“On average, people in the U.S. go through about two to three cycles of IVF,” Su said.

Right now, embryos undergo genetic testing, which requires a biopsy and does not fully predict success.

A new method developed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine works by detecting small particles of genetic material called ex-RNAs that are left behind in the Petri dishes in which the embryos are grown. Researchers used the data to train a machine learning model to predict the embryo’s appearance, which predicts success.

“The pattern of RNA varies between embryos that stop growing versus the embryos that continue to grow,” Su said.

And that will help doctors determine which ones will have the best chance to grow into beautiful babies.

Researchers emphasize that further research is needed to confirm whether their ex-RNA-based test can directly predict successful IVF outcomes.

If that is successful, the test could streamline the IVF process, making it more efficient and less stressful for patients.

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