Reduction of in vitro treatments mulled

Health Ministry contemplating recommendation to reduce number of IVF treatments for those whose situations offer no real hope for success.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
In vitro fertilization 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel)
In vitro fertilization 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel)
The Health Ministry reported Tuesday that the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments has dropped slightly over the past decade despite the amount of IVF treatment cycles rising from 20,000 to 38,000 in that period.
The number of live births has only increased from 4,792 in 2002 to 6,901 in 2011.
The ministry said that director- general Prof. Ronni Gamzu is contemplating a recommendation of the National Council for Obstetrics and Gynecology to reduce the number of IVF treatments for those whose medical situations offer no real hope for success.
At present, all women within a specific age group are entitled to receive state-funded IVF treatment until they give birth to two healthy babies.
While 86.4 percent of embryos created by IVF were implanted in 2011, the rate of subsequent pregnancy was 23%, and the rate of live births from IVG was 14.9% that year, compared to 88% implantation rate, 25.2% pregnancy and 17.9% live births in 2002.
In other words, most of the IVF procedures during the past decade made it possible to return embryos to the womb; a quarter produced pregnancies; and almost a fifth ended in a live birth.
The average number of babies delivered in each pregnancy resulting from IVF was 1.2 in 2011, compared to 1.2 to 1.3 a decade ago. Fertility specialists are returning fewer embryos to the womb than before to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies.