PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Jul-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 1 July 2014: A project in Denmark whose aim is to assess the reliability of preconceptional lifestyle and biological factors as predictors of fertility has found a pronounced effect of the contraceptive pill on markers used to assess "ovarian reserve", a predictor of future reproductive lifespan. Available evidence of whether the Pill has an effect on fertility has so far been reassuring - and usual advice to those stopping the Pill is that cycles will soon revert to normal, with pregnancy likely within six months or so.(1) However, one continuing concern for those taking the Pill long-term is its effect on reproductive status and whether this is masked by the Pill. Now, a new study reported today at the ESHRE Annual Meeting in Munich by Dr Kathrine Birch Petersen from the Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark indicates that the Pill has a marked suppressive effect on two well established markers of ovarian reserve, which are each considered reliable predictors of ovarian ageing and onset of menopause. In recent years the term "ovarian reserve" has been used to describe the ability of the ovary … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Jul-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 1 July 2014: The rapid freezing technique of vitrification is set to revolutionise egg donation as a fertility treatment by enabling freeze-storage egg-banking. The cryopreservation of eggs was one of IVF's continuing challenges until the widespread introduction of vitrification; the older slow freezing methods induced the formation of ice crystals, which could cause damage to several structures of the egg. Thus, as demand for egg donation increases as a treatment for age-related infertility, egg banking with vitrification can theoretically provide a large pool of donor eggs without the present need for collection, fertilisation and transfer in a "fresh" treatment cycle (in which the donor and recipient's cycles are hormonally synchronised). There is now increasing evidence that egg banking with vitrification is a viable process in egg banking programmes. However, little is known about success rates and how many vitrified eggs a recipient will need to maximise her chance of pregnancy - questions which are now answered in a study reported today at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Munich by Dr Ana Cobo of the Valencia Infertility Institute (IVI) in Valencia, Spain, one … Continue reading →