Latest News from Fertility Concerns

(Previous News Articles)

• Tuesday 15 July 2008 6.30 – 9.30 pm.  ‘Fertility and Beyond - making healthy babies'.  An evening of finding out from expert speakers about how to improve your chances of becoming pregnant, maintaining a healthy pregnancy and much more.  Topics covered include acupuncture, chinese herbal medicine, homeopathy, mind and the body, nutrition and yoga. Open to all.  Venue: Gillis Centre, 100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh.  Booking essential.  For more information and to register contact:  Tel: 0131 551 3171 or Email : info@fertilityconcerns.co.uk or visit www.fertilityandbeyond.com

• Saturday 19 July.  National Infertility Day 2008 in celebration of 30 years of IVF.  New Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, London is the venue.  For more information Tel: 01323 637713 Fax: 01323 637777 Email: NID@confpeople.co.uk
• 16 February 2008.  Acupuncture may increase IVF success rates.  A team of doctors from the University of Maryland and the University of Amsterdam have published a report in the British Medical Journal claiming that acupuncture could increase IVF success rates by as much as 65 per cent.  They reviewed seven different studies published since 2002, comprising trials involving 1,266 women undergoing IVF treatment and by taking all the information from the studies concluded that women who had acupuncture in conjunction with IVF were 65 per cent more likely to have a successful embryo transfer compared to those that had no treatment or were given fake acupuncture.  The cost of acupuncture treatments is around £50 per session as compared to the £4,000 to £6,000 cost of one IVF cycle.  This means that it is potentially cost effective to introduce acupuncture alongside IVF. 
• 21 February 2008.  New Study Shows SET Can Improve Success and Reduce Mutliple Births.  A new study published in the BJOG journal shows that using single embryo blastocyst transfer improved success rates and cut down on multiple births in a select group of women.
• 17 March 2008.  Concerns over decreasing male fertility rates.  Two new studies have identified factors that could be causing a decline in male fertility.  In one study research published in the journal Fertility and Sterility on the anti-impotence drug Viagra concluded that men taking the drug could be damaging their sperm and lowering their ability to conceive.  Another study published in the environmental journal the Ends Report suggests that pollution from chemicals such as dioxin can lower a man's sperm count.
• 17 March 2008.  First ever drug for male infertility.  New hope has been given to infertile couples in Australia where Menevit, the first ever drug for male infertility, has been developed.  It contains antioxidants and works by acting on free radicals that fragment the sperm, the main cause of infertility.  In a preliminary study of 60 infertile men the rate of pregnancy was increased significantly but larger clinical trials are required before the drug can be merited.