Mini-Movies May Boost IVF Success

Mini-movies of growing embryos could help boost the success of in vitro fertilization, a new study found. But the number of women who could benefit from the time-lapse technology is unclear.

For the study, British researchers used time-lapse photography to track the earliest stage of embryonic development – a process that unfolds in womb-mimicking incubators for couples using IVF. The researchers then used an algorithm to spot the embryos most likely to grow into babies.

"Embryo selection based predominantly on specific time-lapse derived algorithms could rapidly become routine in IVF treatment," the study authors wrote in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online, describing how the healthiest-looking embryos had a 72.7 percent chance of leading to a pregnancy and a 61.1 percent chance of resulting in a live birth.

Embryos deemed to look less healthy by the time-lapse technique had a 25.5 percent chance of leading to a pregnancy and 19.2 percent of resulting in a live birth, according to the study.

But the study was small, with only 69 couples, and some experts say many women lack the luxury of choice when it comes to embryo implantation.

"A lot of the time, we don't have that many embryos to choose from," said Dr. James Goldfarb, director of the University Hospitals Fertility Center in Cleveland and past president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies, who was not involved in the study.

An IVF cycle starts with a woman taking drugs to stimulate the production of multiple eggs. After about two weeks, the eggs are collected and fertilized. Then, the resulting embryos are grown in a lab for up to five days, depending on how many there are and how healthy they look.

The more healthy embryos there are, the more likely an embryologist will watch them for five days to let the weakest die off, leaving the strongest behind. The pregnancy rate for women under 35 with day 5 embryo transfers is 69 percent, compared to 57 percent for women with day 3 transfers, according to data from the Cleveland Clinic's IVF Laboratory.

"For some patients, you might get 15 eggs, and maybe 13 will fertilize and you have enough embryos that look good on day 3 to go out to day 5 without a problem," said Goldfarb. "But at the other end of spectrum, you might have a patient with only six or seven eggs, only three or four get fertilized, and by day 3, you only have two that look reasonable."

In that case, Goldfarb added, "it's better to transfer them on day 3."

The number of embryos transferred depends on the woman's age. But for women 35 and under, it's typically one or two, according to Goldfarb. So if only one or two embryos are thriving on implantation day, there's not much of a choice.

But the new study raises an interesting possibility for women with multiple embryos to choose from. Based on time-lapse imaging, the researchers were able to weed out embryos with an abnormal number of chromosomes – embryos that would likely fail to implant in the womb or result in a miscarriage. None of the embryos deemed the least healthy by the time-lapse technique resulted in a pregnancy or a live birth, according to the study.

"In some ways, it's more of a negative to get pregnant and miscarry," said Goldfarb. "That rollercoaster can be much more traumatic than not getting pregnant at all."

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Jason Patric Bill May Boost Sperm Donor Rights

Jason Patric's child custody battle inspired new California legislation. (Credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

Inspired by actor Jason Patric‘s child custody battle, the California state legislature is debating a?bill that would allow sperm donors to argue for their rights to become legal fathers.

Currently, sperm donors are not legally considered the “natural father” of their children unless both parents sign a document prior to conception, according to the proposed bill. This applies to anonymous sperm bank donors and sperm donors participating in in-vitro fertilization with women other than their wives.

Read about who would benefit from 3-person IVF

The new bill, SB 115, would allow any sperm donor to go to court and argue that he deserves the rights that come with parentage. To grant parentage, the courts would determine whether a father-child relationship exists.

It passed the California senate in April and needs to make its way through the California assembly before it can be signed into law.

Patric, who starred in The Lost Boys in 1987, donated sperm for his girlfriend to conceive their now-3-year-old son, Gus, but the couple broke up, leaving Patric with no rights as Gus’s father because he didn’t sign an agreement before she conceived. He lost a custody battle in February.

Want more Jason Patric news? Check out our topic page.

Patric’s ex-girlfriend, massage therapist Danielle Schreiber, is fighting the bill, according to the Sacramento Bee.

What do you think? Should sperm donors be able to get rights even if they didn’t sign a document prior to conception? Would this get in the way of legal parents’ rights? Tells us in the comments section.

Patric will be on Monday’s episode of “Katie” in an exclusive broadcast interview talking about his public custody battle.

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Bill Aims to Boost Compounded Drug Safety

A new bill aims to fill a regulatory gap blamed for a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to tainted steroid injections.

The Massachusetts House bill, which was months in the making, would boost the oversight of compounding pharmacies in Massachusetts, like the now shuttered Framingham facility, whose drugs have been linked to 749 infections in 20 states.

Sixty-one people have died in the outbreak, which began in September 2012.

See a timeline of the deadly outbreak.

“This legislation will hold pharmacies to high standards in quality control and sterility,” Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Health said in a statement. “But these are achievable standards, and standards they must meet in order to prevent another tragedy like we witnessed with [the New England Compounding Center] and Ameridose.”

The NECC recalled all of its products and shut down operations Sept. 26, 2012, but as many as 1,400 people had already received injections of the fungus-tainted steroid used to treat back and joint pain.

Ameridose, a sister company of the NECC, also recalled its drugs citing sterility concerns.

Read about the conditions in the NECC’s sterile drug-mixing area.

Unlike drug manufacturers, which develop and distribute drugs under strict regulations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, compounding pharmacies concoct customized medicines for individual patients using FDA-approved ingredients under the more lenient supervision of state boards of pharmacy.

Read about the role of compounding pharmacies in the U.S. health care system.

The new bill would establish an 11-person committee of unpaid industry experts — the majority of them pharmacists — to advise the Massachusetts pharmacy board, and require a “specialty license” for compounding pharmacies. It would also mandate surprise inspections of compounding facilities and stricter training standards for state pharmacy inspectors.

Sanchez, who spearheaded the measure, said it “recognizes the unique and necessary place specialty compounding holds in the delivery of modern health care as it strives to fill in the ‘grey area’ surrounding current state and federal oversight of compounding pharmacies.”

The bill would also require pharmacies to report the volume and types of drugs produced – a move aimed at curbing in the mass production of compounded drugs.

Read about how drug compounding spiraled out of control.

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