June 2007 Blog Archive
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
New Test Doesn't Tell It All
The FDA has approved Fertell, which is being marketed as the first at-home fertility test for couples. While it may be the answer to some fertility diagnostic issues -- like, for example, just getting the male partner to participate in testing vis a vis providing a semen sample for a lab -- Fertell can only provide a single piece in the jigsaw puzzle that infertility diagnosis becomes for many.
The packaged kit retails for around $100. For that, you get a measurement of the woman's follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and of the man's sperm concentration (aka sperm count) and motility (movement of the little guys.)
Given that entire books can easily be written about the many things that might render a body infertile, it's relatively easy to conclude that Fertell will provide a smidge of info, albeit usable info, for couples who are wondering about their fertility.
It's by no means a replacement for more detailed diagnosis by a professional.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
40 & Over Crowd Flocking to Treatment
The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has published documentation that more women who are 40 years of age and older are making use of fertility treatment.
The stats show a ten-fold boom from 1991 to 2006.
In this related article for
The Guardian, there's evidence of some ongoing debate about how fertility treatment is or should be presented as a solution for women of "advanced maternal age" (a term none too pleasing to the ear...)
Agreement seems to be that the increase in older mama-wanna-be's is not so much a result of new or better technology, but of things like financial ability to afford treatment coupled with an apparently growing number of women who are making the conscious life choices -- like putting off motherhood for careers, etc. -- that wind up impacting their fertility negatively.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
U.S.' First Frozen Gamete Baby
Little Noah Domasin, born April 11, 2007, is reportedly the first baby in the United States to result from a combination of both frozen sperm and frozen egg cells.
The company who assisted Noah's mom, Adrienne, in his creation is Extend Fertility. Extend has made a name for themselves since 2004 when they first started partnering with clinics to offer the still-experimental oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing) technique for the purpose of delaying motherhood.
Oocyte cryo was initially used by patients who were about to undergo sterility-causing cancer therapy. Now, due in large part to Extend Fertility's company mission, healthy women who can afford to do so are choosing to freeze their eggs while the cells are still hopefully viable with the aim of using them in vitro for future conception.
Adrienne used an Extend-sponsored study held at Huntington Reproductive Center in California for the retrieval and freezing of her eggs, and then later for the thawing and fertilization with a previously frozen semen sample.
