New Fertility Treatment Method Could Help Thousands of Women Conceive

The birth of the first baby born due to a newfertility treatment could also help women who simply
fertility treatment was announced Tuesday,  atwant to reduce the amount of time it takes to
Saint-Vincent de Paul Reproductive Centre in Paris,conceive. Most notably, many birth control methods
France, signaling the possibility that thousands ofcan affect the return of fertility for long periods of
women unable to undergo conventional fertilitytime.  Pfizer, the manufacturers of Depo Provera,
treatment due to medical reasons may similarly giveadmit that it can take up to 18 months for
birth.menstruation to return after you stop receiving
The woman's fertility was a result of ovaryinjections. And Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories’
irregularities that characterizes Polycystic OvaryNorplant can similarly cause women to experience
Syndrome (PCOS), a condition which affects theproblems conceiving after discontinued use.
fertility of thousands of women worldwide. WomenGenetic screening can also reduce fertility in older
with PCOS are unable to undergo many fertilitywomen. Pregnancy and birth rates have been found
treatments because of the high doses of hormonesto be siginficantly lower among women over the age
required in order to simulate the eggs can beof 35 who have undergone embryo screening
life-threatening.compared to those who have not undergone this
The new treatment, FertiBella, introduced bytype of fertility testing, according to a study
LeRoche Benicoeur plc, has demonstrated remarkablepresented recently at the Lyon meeting of the
success in supporting a recently discovered geneticEuropean Society of Human Reproduction and
marker called Human Leukocyte Antigen-G. IdentifiedEmbryology.
by scientists for the multinational pharmaceuticalGenetic screening involves the extraction of a single
company headquartered in Marseille, France, thecell from a developing embryo in order to evaluate
embryonic marker has shown to be a predictor forfor the presence of chromosomal defects that can
pregnancy success rates. FertiBella raises thresholdlead to such conditions as Down's syndrome. It was
levels in embryos, associated with a pregnancy rategenerally thought that genetic screening improves a
of 70% in previously infertile women.woman's chances of getting pregnant after the age
In addition to helping women with PCOS, this newof 35.