IVM - In vitro maturation

Geeta has been liaising with Professor Chian from McGill University in Canada who has pioneered a technique called IVM.

IVM is a treatment that benefits couples trying natural cycle IVF and has particular benefits for women with PCOS or PCO, but which may also benefit those women who might not normally consider natural cycle IVF due to the reduced likelihood of achieving a pregnancy.

In natural cycle IVF, no medication is used to induce follicular growth. This means however that only one egg is usually harvested which means that the likelihood of successful pregnancy is lower than stimulated IVF where many eggs can be harvested and a number of embryos created. Geeta's published studies have shown that the success rate of natural cycle IVF is 46% over four IVF cycles.

In natural cycle IVF with IVM, in addition to the mature egg, up to 20 immature eggs are also harvested (women usually develop these immature eggs during their cycle). The IVM technique then comes into play as these immature eggs are brought to maturity through culture in vitro between 24-48 hours after harvesting. This then means that the possibility of creating viable embryos is far greater than in simple natural cycle IVF as there are more eggs to fertilise. The success rate of natural cycle IVF with IVM in women with PCOS or PCO has been 36% per cycle in Prof Chian's studies in Canada.

The technique has been pioneered in Canada, and there have now been over 250 successful, healthy pregnancies. Professor Chian will be carrying out the first UK trial of this technique with Geeta. Create will be the first clinic to offer IVM in Natural cycle in the UK