ivf chances

Women in their 40s expect fertility treatment to rewind their ‘biological clock’, and are upset when they find out they can’t have babies, warns a top fertility specialist.
Demand for IVF from older women is rising dramatically, but they don’t realise the chances of success are limited, said Pasquale Patrizio, of the Yale Fertility Center in the U.S. He said the latest research showed success rates for women aged 42 and over had stayed static at less than 10 per cent.

A cut-price test that could dramatically increase the chances of having a healthy baby through IVF could be available within 18 months. Oxford University researchers say their test could ‘revolutionise’ the treatment as it is half the price of existing tests and may be just as effective.

It may be cheap enough for use by the Health Service. And, unlike existing tests, it does not involve the potentially risky step of taking a sample of cells from the egg or fledgling embryo, making it safer and more ethically acceptable.