| A new form of cheaper, more natural IVF that could | | | | first to down-regulate hormones then to stimulate egg |
| beat infertility and make you a mum? Where do I sign | | | | production, with the new technique there is only up to a |
| up? Oh, that's right, I no longer have a uterus but if I did | | | | week of 'gentle drug-taking' in small quantities and not |
| I'd be looking into this. | | | | by injection, before egg pick up. And in this way the |
| I'll take the Soft IVF please. It's about half the price of | | | | most common side-effect, ovarian hyperstimulation, is |
| the conventional IVF we know and dislike and it uses | | | | avoided. |
| far less drugs. | | | | How about success rates? While early days, |
| Dr Geeta Nargund, Head of Reproductive Medicine at | | | | compared to a success rate in the UK of 27% using |
| St George's Hospital, London, and Medical Director of | | | | conventional IVF, the success rate in the Netherlands |
| Create Health Clinic, is one of a handful of UK doctors | | | | where Professor Bart Fauser, head of Reproductive |
| offering the new treatment. | | | | Medicine in Utrecht, The Netherlands, has been |
| Her theory is that it is safer for the mother's health, | | | | recommending it over conventional IVF for the past |
| eggs and any embryos that are created if there are | | | | three years, is 43%. |
| no drugs or they are minimized. And the good news is | | | | It is particularly promising for older women, whose |
| that any woman recommended for IVF can use it, | | | | ovaries don't respond well to high levels of drug |
| including those with blocked fallopian tubes - it's not | | | | stimulation. In addition Spanish scientists believe that |
| discriminatory. | | | | stimulatory drugs affect the quality of the lining of the |
| Whereas with IVF there is four weeks of drug-taking, | | | | womb and even increase the risk of miscarriage. |