Showing posts with label Clinical results in SFC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clinical results in SFC. Show all posts
Double stimulation (Duo-OPU)
5/24/2017 06:49:00 PM
— Continuous stimulation and oocyte retrieval during both the follicular and luteal phases of poor responders in IVF/ICSI programs can increase the obtained oocytes per menstrual cycle
The clinical outcomes of donor oocyte bank
9/09/2016 10:45:00 PMThe benefits of Frozen Oocyte Bank
Register：Oversea Form
Facebook：e-Stork FB Page
E-mail：en_service@icryobank.com
WhatsApp：+886-905-737-501
- We guarantee that the donor has stored at least 10 mature oocytes in our center. Also, these mature oocytes will be provided only for you and will not be shared by another couple.
- By using the most advanced vitrification technology, the average survival rate after thawing in our center is about 90%.
- The treatment is more flexible and based on your time. After we receive the permission from the government, we can thaw the oocytes and fertilize the egg right away!
According to our recent statistics,
patients undergoing oocyte donation program have 50-60% chance of conception in
average. The pregnancy rate and live birth rate of oocyte donation program are
similar to the woman of using their own eggs at or below age of 35.
Our Achievement
The pregnancy rate and the live birth rate
are highly relevant to the quality of oocytes and the age of oocyte retrival. According
to the statistics of Health Promotion Administration (HPA), female fertility
even plummets after age of 34.
Using oocytes from the donor is absolutely
an additional option of happiness for couple who are eagering to become mother
and dad in a short term.
Based on our statistics, oocyte donation
program has great pregnancy rate (about 70%) and high live birth rates (nearly
50%).
Comparison between Frozen Embryo and Fresh
Embryo
To preserve the oocyte, Stork Fertility
Center performs highly efficient vitrification method published by Kuwayama et
al. Based on our center’s statistics, frozen oocyte and embryo survival rates
are 90% in average.
According to the recorded literature, the clinical pregnancy rates
for frozen embryo transfers and fresh embryo transfers are comparable. Similar
results have been obtained at the Center. The pregnancy rate for frozen embryo
transfers has even surpassed that of fresh embryo transfers.
Frozen embryo transfer could be applied in
women with irregular menstruation, asynchronous embryo development, or there’s
further inspection needed.
Comparison between Fresh Oocyte and Frozen
Oocyte Bank
As reported by our statistics, there is no
significance between frozen oocyte program and fresh oocyte program including
fertilization rates, good embryo rate, good blastocyst rate, clinical pregnancy
rate and implantation rate. That is, vitrification method will not cause
significant harm to the oocytes and embryos.
Register：Oversea Form Facebook：e-Stork FB Page E-mail：en_service@icryobank.com WhatsApp：+886-905-737-501The clinical outcomes of donor sperm bank
9/08/2016 10:59:00 PMThe percentage of Stork Fertility Center sperm donation cycles to the total sperm donation cycles in Taiwan:
*The sky-blue bar represents the percentage of SFC oocyte donation cycle, and the sky-blue plus apricot represents the total oocyte donation cycles in Taiwan.
* BT= blastocyst transfer
* FBT = frozen (and then thawed) blastocyst transfer
The clinical outcomes of embryo transfer in the donated-oocyte recipients:
* BT= blastocyst transfer
* FBT = frozen (and then thawed) blastocyst transfer
The best timing of vitrification after blastocyst biopsy
7/14/2016 09:05:00 PM
What is the correlation between the vitrification timing
after biopsy and the following clinical outcomes?
Time is what we want most,
but we use worst.
Through preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), couples
with the indications of repeated implantation failure, recurrent miscarriage,
and advanced maternal age, may select the chromosomally normal embryo to
transfer (euploid embryo transfer). On the widely-used PGS platform—aCGH (now
has been gradually replaced by next-generation sequencing system), the tested
embryos must be vitrified after biopsy to wait for the PGS report release .
When should the embryologists vitrify the biopsied embryo? Does the timing of
vitrification correlate with the following clinical outcomes?
A patient friendly corifollitropin alfa protocol without routine pituitary suppression in normal responders
6/07/2016 06:26:00 PM
Author
|
Huai-Ling Wang1, Hsing-Hua Lai1, Tzu-Hsuan Chuang1, Yu-Wei Shih1, Shih-Chieh Huang1, Meng-Ju Lee1, Shee-Uan Chen2
|
Affiliation
|
1Stork Fertility Center, Stork Ladies Clinic,
2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine,
|
Publication
| |
Keywords
|
Corifollitropin alfa; Controlled ovarian stimulation; GnRH antagonist
|
Introduction
Reducing the frequency of injections in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) program is a patient-friendly way to decrease the mental stress and financial burden in infertile couples. The release of corifollitropin alfa simplifies daily injections of short-acting recombinant follicular stimulating hormone (rFSH), and its widely-used protocol involves short-acting gonadotropins supplements and a fixed GnRH antagonist regimen, largely based on follicle size. In this study, the feasibility of corifollitropin alfa without routine pituitary suppression was evaluated, and it may further simplify the injection protocol.
ありがとう! Oocyte donation program helps me to have my baby.
5/23/2016 06:18:00 PM
I came to Taiwan with anxiety and stress caused by both the expectations and worries. There are language and cultural barriers between Taiwan and Japan. However, I brought my baby to cross the national boundaries, and finally took her home.
I am 44 years old, and has received infertility treatment for almost 10 years. In this year, no available oocytes could be retrieved after the ovarian stimulation. It seemed that this is the end to the journey. My Japanese doctor suggested me taking the oocyte-recipient program in Taiwan, which has not been legitimated officially in Japan. My husband rejected this suggestion in the very beginning, but I would like to take any chance to have our own babies. Finally, we came to the Stork Fertility Center in Hsinchu.
How about the fertility capacity of frozen eggs?
11/20/2015 01:47:00 AM
Before we decide to cryopreserve our own eggs for the future use,
we must think about the impact of freezing.
According to many scientific articles, the risk of egg freezing is related to the maternal age, not the procedure itself. The findings are concordant to the report released by Stork Fertility Center in newest annual meeting of Taiwan Society of Reproductive Medicine.
Twins born through IVF "more likely to suffer problems"
10/28/2014 05:52:00 PMGiving birth to twins through fertility treatment substantially increases the risk to both mother and children, new research finds
by Sarah Knapton
Twins born through fertility treatment and their mothers are far more likely to suffer problems than single births, new studies show. Until recently fertility clinics implanted several embryos to increase the chance of conception, but the practise led to women regularly having more than one child.
Now new research has shown that even giving birth to twins through fertility treatment, such as IVF, substantially increases the risk to both mother and children. They were five times more likely to need a Caesarean section and 10 times more likely to be born prematurely.
Prof Barbara Luke, at Michigan State University, looked at the birth outcomes for 6,000 single pregnancies and 2,500 twins. "And what we found was that being a twin versus a singleton at birth increased the risk for all outcomes except for of course large for age," she said. Multiple pregnancy is the single biggest risk of fertility treatment, according to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority.
It increases the risk of stillbirth, neonatal death and disability in children born. It also increases the risk of dangerous complications to the mother, such as late miscarriage, high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia.
On average, one-in-five IVF pregnancies are a multiple pregnancy compared to one-in-80 for women who conceive naturally. UK guidelines advise that wherever possible a single embryo only should be transferred, but some clinics still put back more – sometimes because the patient wrongly thinks it improves their chances. However, the research suggests that it is safer to transfer single embryos.
Dr Rebecca Sokol, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said: "We have long known the dangers of high order multiple pregnancies.
"This research shows us how risky even twin pregnancies can be. Clearly, the trend toward using single embryo transfer needs to continue."
The research was presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Original Source: Twins born through IVF 'more likely to suffer problems'
 |
| Data Source: Stork Fertility Center, 2011 |
Assessment of corifollitropin alfa for assisted reproduction: a review study
4/23/2014 12:40:00 AM
Introduction:
Corifollitropin alfa, a fusion product of recombinant human
follicle-stimulating hormone (rFSH) with a hybrid beta subunit C-terminal
peptide of human chorionic gonadotropin, plays a similar pharmacologic role as
traditional rFSH, but with a longer half life.
Clinical applications of corifollitropin alfa in assisted reproductive realm
have reported that it stimulates multifollicular growth for 7 days with the
same safety and ovarian response as rFSH administration. In 2003, the first
report of live birth using corifollitropin alfa stimulation was released in
Netherland. In 2010, European union approved corifollitropin alfa in its
market, and then Taiwan approved the release of corifollitropin alfa in 2013. To
assess the outcomes of corifollitropin alfa in following embryo development of
IVF program, including fertilization, good embryo formation (culture to the day
3), and blastocyst formation (culture to the day 5), we analyzed the results
generated from the cases stimulating by long-acting rFSH (L-rFSH,
corifollitropin alfa) and by traditional rFSH (T-rFSH) shots in this study.
Materials
and Methods:
Study
Cohort I—General
patients
A total of 252 cycles were recruited since
December, 2012 to September, 2013. There were 91 cycles (average age: 34.9 y/o,
range from 28-42) using L-rFSH stimulation (14 cycles with single shots and 77
cycles with T-rFSH supplements), and 161 cycles (average age: 34.9 y/o, range
from 23-40) using T-rFSH stimulation, which was set as the control cohort (Table 1). The patients with polycystic
ovarian symptoms were excluded from the study cohort. Number of antral
follicles, number of retrieval oocyte, hormone levels after stimulating, number
of mature oocytes(MII) after retrieving and the fertilization rates were
compared between the two groups. Then the good embryo rate (GER) of
day3-culture and the good blastocyst rate (GBR) of day5-culture were determined
from each group.
Table
1
Study
Cohort II—Oocyte Donor
Cohort
A total of 89 oocyte donating cycles were
recruited since December, 2012 to September, 2013. There were 64 cycles using
L-rFSH stimulation, and 25 cycles using T-rFSH stimulation, which was set as the
control cohort. The same parameters associated with embryo yield were also
compared in these two groups.
Treatment
Protocol Design
To assess the more friendly protocol to the
IVF cases, we designed a protocol with fewer injections based on the
traditional rFSH short protocol and the corifollitropin α in GnRH antagonist protocol.
The modified protocols were displayed in
Figure 1.
Figure
1
Statistics
Statistical evaluations were carried out
using nonparametric Student’s t test
with Welch’s corrections. The statistical software, prism (http://www.graphpad.com/scientific-software/prism,
GraphPad) was administrated in the data processing.
Results
Although the number of antral follicles showed
difference between L-rFSH recipients and T-rFSH recipients (10.16±0.44 vs. 8.39±0.31, p<0 .01="" font="" nbsp="">
After oocyte retrieving of L-rFSH recipients and T- rFSH recipients, number of MII oocytes (11.16±0.69 vs. 9.52±0.50, p=0.03), maturation rates (75.8% vs. 78.31%, p=0.16) and fertilization rates (78.72% vs. 77.12%, p=0.26) were no different. In following cultural results of embryos, GER of day3 (61.32% vs. 58.22%, p=0.24) and GBR of day5 (60.39% vs. 57.36%, p=0.21) also performed the similar outcomes from the two groups (Figure 2).
After oocyte retrieving of L-rFSH recipients and T- rFSH recipients, number of MII oocytes (11.16±0.69 vs. 9.52±0.50, p=0.03), maturation rates (75.8% vs. 78.31%, p=0.16) and fertilization rates (78.72% vs. 77.12%, p=0.26) were no different. In following cultural results of embryos, GER of day3 (61.32% vs. 58.22%, p=0.24) and GBR of day5 (60.39% vs. 57.36%, p=0.21) also performed the similar outcomes from the two groups (Figure 2).
Table
2 General IVF case
After oocyte retrieving of L-rFSH
recipients and T- rFSH recipients, number of MII oocytes (11.16±0.69 vs. 9.52±0.50,
p=0.03), maturation rates (75.8% vs. 78.31%, p=0.16) and fertilization rates
(78.72% vs. 77.12%, p=0.26) were no different. In following cultural results of
embryos, GER of day3 (61.32% vs. 58.22%, p=0.24) and GBR of day5 (60.39% vs.
57.36%, p=0.21) also performed the similar outcomes from the two groups (Figure 2).
Figure
2
In the oocyte-donor cohort, the group
stimulated by corifollitropin alfa also displayed similar ovarian responses and
clinical outcomes in the following embryo culture (Table 3, Figure 3).
Table
3 Oocyte
donating cycles
Figure
3
Discussion:
Based on the efficiencies of controlled ovarian stimulation and
embryo culture, no significant differences were observed between the recipients
of L-rFSH and of T-rFSH. Due to the long lasting effect of corifollitropin
alfa, a more patient-friendly option with reduced injective frequencies could
be applied to the overseas cases or cases afraid of injections (Table 4, Table 5).
Table
4 Frequency of Injection
Table
5 Cost List
(The study has been published in 2014 Annual Meeting of Taiwanese Obstetrics and Gynecology Society)
References:
1.
A comparison of long-acting FSH
versus daily FSH did not show evidence of difference in effect on overall live
birth rate or OHSS in 2335 IVF participants (Cochrane Database Syst. Review,
2013)
2.
Long-acting rFSH and
short-acting rFSH treatment protocols provided equal success rates of live
birth and cumulative pregnancy
(Boostanfar et al., Fertil Steril 2012)
3.
Treatment of
poor ovarian responders with corifollitropin α in a GnRH
antagonist protocol results in low pregnancy rates, similarly to
conventional stimulation with a short agonist protocol
4.
(Polyzos et al., Fertil Steril
2013)
To make choosing embryo easier - Pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS in Taiwan)
1/07/2014 08:16:00 PM
How many embryos do you want to transfer? Which embryo do you want to transfer? Many IVF couples just looked down at the records of the frozen embryos with their puzzled faces, and finally decided to ask the technicians to help them to choose the best embryo for them.
Experience of blastocyst culture in dry culture system
8/08/2013 12:47:00 AM
Experience of blastocyst culture in dry culture system
| Author | Hsing-Hua Lai*, Huai-Ling Wang, Wen-Yi Chiang, Yao-Cheng Huang, Saing-Chi Chen, Wan-Jung Hsieh, Chun-Chuan Chen, Chi-An Hsieh, Shih-Chieh Huang, Ya-Hui Hsu, Hsin-Hua Chou |
|---|---|
| Editor | |
| Seminar name | |
| Keyword | |
| PDF download |
The advantages of dry culture system include minimal risk of contamination, fast recovery of gas concentration, and more stable temperature controlling. From economical point of view, dry incubators are space and gas saving due to small chamber volume. However, there are disadvantages such as swift variation of environment and higher water evaporation rate. Dry incubators are not as common as humidified incubators in routine use. To assess the clinical application, a preliminary feasibility study was conducted.
Accumulating oocytes or blastocyst for low responders? Age as a criterion
8/08/2013 12:46:00 AM
Accumulating Oocytes or Blastocysts for Low Responders? Age as a Criterion
| Author | Shih-Chieh Huang, Huai-Ling Wang, Wen-Yi Jiang, Hsing-Hua Chou, Hsing-Hua Lai |
|---|---|
| Editor | Hsing-Hua Chou |
| Seminar name | 2012Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction |
| Keyword | Blastocyst vitrification, oocyte vitrification, DOR |
| PDF download |
Low responders (LRs) are mostly from diminished ovarian reserve and/or advanced maternal age. They may experience repeated IVF failure caused by few or no embryos to transfer. In this cohort, accumulating oocytes or blastocysts to obtain more embryos could be benefit in improving clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). Several studies have shown maternal age as a determining factor in IVF treatment. In this study, we compared IVF outcome between two groups with oocyte or blastocyst accumulation at different age levels.
Blastocyst stage microarray-based genomic screening in improving clinical pregnancy rate and implantation rate
8/08/2013 12:45:00 AM
Blastocyst stage microarray-based genomic screening in improving clinical pregnancy rate and implantation rate
| Author | Hsing-Hua Lai, Huai-Ling Wang, Wen-Yi Chiang, Shih-Chieh Huang, Ya-Hui Hsu |
|---|---|
| Editor | Shih-Chieh Huang |
| Seminar name | 2011 TSRM |
| Keyword | PGS, aCGH, blastocyst culture |
| PDF download |
Identification of embryos with the highest implantation potential is a crucial step in IVF. Blastocyst transfer (BT) has been proved to have higher implantation rate and live birth rate than D3 embryo transfer owing to a further embryo selection mechanism. However, morphological grading provides us only part of clue to choosing a best quality blastocyst. As chromosome abnormality plays a role in pregnancy failure for woman of advanced maternal age and repeated implantation failure, it is important to evaluate the chromosome status before BT to reduce miscarriage rate.
Comparison of the embryo development and clinical pregnancy rates between vitrified and fresh oocytes
8/08/2013 12:43:00 AM
Comparison of the embryo development and clinical pregnancy rates between vitrified and fresh oocytes
| Author | Hsing-Hua Lai, Huai-Ling Wang, Wen-Yi Chiang, Yao-Cheng Huang, Saing-Chi Chen, Wan-Jung Hsieh, Chun-Chuan Chen, Chi-An Hsieh, Shih-Chieh Huang, Ya-Hui Hsu, Hsin-Hua Chou |
|---|---|
| Editor | Shih-Chieh Huang |
| Seminar name | 2012 TSRM |
| Keyword | vitrification, cryo-oocyte, pregnancy rate |
| PDF download |
In recent years, oocyte cryopreservation is mainly performed before oncological treatment, but rarely for infertile cause. For non-oncological purpose, such as single women with advanced age, autoimmune disorders, or for couples with male infertility, oocyte vitrification could retain the possibility of future utilization.
To assess the clinical practicality, we compared vitrified and fresh oocytes in their embryo development and pregnancy rates with our clinical data.
Comparison of the obstetric outcome between fresh and vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfer
8/08/2013 12:40:00 AM
Comparison of the obstetric outcome between fresh and vitrified-warmed blastocyst transfer
| Author | Hsing-Hua Lai, Huai-Ling Wang, Wen-Yi Chiang, Shih-Chieh Huang, Ya-Hui Hsu |
|---|---|
| Editor | Ya-Pei Pong |
| Seminar name | 2011 22th AOCOG |
| Keyword | vitrification, blastocyst culture, pregnancy rate, live birth rate |
| PDF download |
Objectives
To evaluate the effects of vitrification and embryo development on
implantation rate, clinical and ongoing pregnancy rates along with live birth
rate.
Methods
- A randomized, retrospective
study
- Fresh and vitrified-warmed
blastocyst transfer (BT)
- Statistical methods: Student t
test and Yate’s continuity corrected χ-square
- Definition:
- Biochemical pregnancy: blood β-hCG > 5mIU/mL
- Clinical pregnancy: gestational
sac observed under ultrasound at 6-8 weeks of pregnancy
- Ongoing pregnancy: pregnant
after 5 months
- Implantation rate: gestational
sac or fetal heart beat (FHB) per transferred embryo
Conclusions
Our
preliminary data suggested that:
1.
Vitrification
had no obvious adverse effect on embryos. In fact, it could be beneficial to
increase cumulative pregnancy rate.
First successful pregnancy after preimplantation genetic diagnosis for Hemophilia A in Asia
8/08/2013 12:32:00 AM
First successful pregnancy after preimplantation genetic diagnosis for Haemophilia A in Asia
| Author | Hsing-Hua Lai, Huai-Ling Wang, Shih-Chieh Huang, Wen-Yi Chiang |
|---|---|
| Editor | Hui-Ling Kao |
| Seminar name | 2010 TSRM |
| Keyword | PGD, inherited disease, IVF |
| PDF download |
Haemophilia A, the most common X-linked disorder affecting males, results from deficient or defective coagulation factor VIII which impairs the coagulation cascade (Fig. 1) and causes bleeding symptoms. In Taiwan, there are about 1000 haemophilia patients, where the cost on medication is 2,300 million dollars per year. Different types of factor VIII gene mutation have been characterized and among which, intron 22 inversion is the most seen and responsible for 45% of severe HA cases.
The conventional way for HA patients to have an unaffected child is to play “reproductive roulette” and give up all male babies. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) provides an alternative strategy for couples carrying HA to conceive a healthy child without sex selection hence to reduce the mental pressure and medical cost. This technique can be performed on blastomere or trophectoderm cells. The DNA in each cell is analyzed for a specific gene mutation, i.e. factor VIII gene in HA. In recent years, the need of PGD for HA is increasing.