NYTimes IVF Article

Did everyone see this article?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/health/17ivf.html?_r=3&em


The more I read about IVF the more confused I become

Re: NYTimes IVF Article

Yes I read that article a few days ago.

It can definitely be confusing, but it looks like so far there are no research-based studies that can definitively say that IVF is linked to genetic disorders.

From what my RE has told me, the risks are not significantly higher than they are in the general population. I also question though what population of women are being studied and how they could control their genetic backgrounds before doing such a study.. KWIM? Also, does that take into account that sometimes women who are older might be at a higher risk in general for certain types of disoders? Or that people with IF in general might have something in their genetic background... I don't know. There are just so many questions I have!

I did learn though from reading this article that they call the liquid that the embryos are grown/cultured in "broth" which I thought was really interesting!

Re: NYTimes IVF Article

that doesn't take into account that a lot of women that are doing IVF are older and have higher risk of chromosonal abnormalities as well.

Cornell's practice alone has a very large proportion of older women compared to say North Shore.

That can skew the results considerably. Some don't opt for PGD.

Re: NYTimes IVF Article

This article is not news. IVF carries some risks but overall they are minimal. Statistics can be used to alarm people unncessarily. If something is normally seen in 1/10,000 births and in IVF it's 10/10,000 that is considered a significant finding. The age factor also cannot be overlooked and that wasn't mentioned at all in the article. My RE recommends that all of his IVF/ICSI patients have either CVS or amnio to check for genetic defects. I followed his recommendations and my baby is fine.