Fertility Preservation in Cancer

Childhood Cancer

 

The Irish Cancer Society hosted their ‘Living Well with and Beyond Cancer’ 2019 national conference on Saturday September 7th in Dublin. This annual conference provides information and support to enable people to live well after a cancer diagnosis.

MFC clinical fellow Dr Maebh Horan gave a talk on fertility preservation in childhood cancer, and discussed the challenges and emerging technologies that offer young survivors hope of achieving parenthood after cancer.

For more information on the 2019 conference, please see the link below:

https://www.cancer.ie/events/national-conference-cancer-survivorship-living-well-cancer

Concern as IVF funding still not in place

funding

Despite the official government announcement last year that €1 million would be allocated for public IVF funding, these funds have still not been released. Those awaiting the much-needed financial and legal supports around assisted reproduction, as promised by the then Health Minister Leo Varadkar three years ago, continue to face uncertainty about when these funds will be made available and what criteria will be required to qualify for assistance.

The Government approved the IVF financial aid plans in October 2017 and a specific €1m fund was then announced by the Taoiseach last December.

In a statement, the Department of Health said a model of care for infertility, tied to long-awaited assisted human reproduction (AHR) legislation and the provision of financial assistance, was still being worked on by officials.

MFC continue to advocate for public funding of IVF for all Irish patients.

To read the Irish Examiner article, please see below:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/concern-as-ivf-funding-still-not-in-place-922418.html

HFEA report (May 9th 2019): “IVF more popular, successful and safer than ever but reasons for treatment are changing”

HFEA

The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority has just released its latest report on trends and figures in fertility treatment. Their findings have been welcomed by the British Fertility Society, who highlight the increased uptake of fertility treatment, improved success rates and confirmation that “IVF remains a safe and effective approach to address fertility issues”. Figures in the report also show that multiple births, the single biggest health risk from IVF, has now reached an all-time low of 10%, a sharp decline from 24% in 2008.

Other key highlights from the report include:

  • in 2017, more than 54,000 patients underwent around 75,000 fertility treatments in the U.K, with IVF treatment cycles increasing by 2.5% since 2016 and resulting in over 20,500 babies being born.
  • the average birth rate for women of all ages using their own eggs reaching 22%, while women under 35 using their own eggs have the highest birth rates (30% – fresh embryo cycle, 27% – frozen embryo cycle.
  • the fastest growing fertility treatment type is egg freezing, which has increased by 10% since 2016 to 1,463 cycles in 2017.
  • frozen embryo treatment cycle success rates (23%) have overtaken fresh embryo cycle success rates (22%) for the first time since records began, indicating that freezing embryos can give as much chance of success as a fresh cycle.

To read the HFEA press release and access the report, please follow the link below:

https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-press-releases/2019-news-and-press-releases/ivf-more-popular-successful-and-safer-than-ever-but-reasons-for-treatment-are-changing/

For the British Fertility Society response to the HFEA report on trends and figures in fertility treatment, please follow the link below:

https://www.britishfertilitysociety.org.uk/2019/05/09/bfs-welcomes-latest-hfea-trends-report/

 

Boosting male fertility

Male Fertility

In at least 50% of cases of male factor infertility, the cause is unknown. A number of lifestyle factors have been shown to affect male fertility. These include diet and nutrition, body weight, levels of exercise, stress and use of tobacco and drugs. Tackling obesity, improving your diet and incorporating moderate-intensity aerobic exercise into your daily life can boost fertility, improve chances of conception, and allow you to be proactive about your role in conceiving a baby.  To read more please follow the link below:

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/25/health/male-infertility-food-drayer/index.html

New Research Funding for MFC Clinician

Research

MFC is delighted to share that our clinical research fellow Dr. Lucia Hartigan recently received research funding from the National Maternity Hospital Medical Fund.

In collaboration with UCD School of Medicine, Dr. Hartigan will use this funding to investigate new biomarkers that may help predict the developmental potential of an oocyte, and improve ART outcomes.

Congratulations Lucia!

Friday, March 8th 2019 – International Women’s Day

International Women's Day

We at MFC are celebrating International Women’s Day! This year the campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter, and what better way to achieve this goal for our patients than to advocate for public funding of fertility treatment.

Infertility affects women of all ethnicities and all social backgrounds, it does not discriminate.

That is why we pledge today to always be an advocate for our patients, to strive for a better balance in access to fertility care, and to ensure that everyone has the chance to achieve their dream of parenthood.

#BalanceforBetter

Guaranteed Irish: Ireland’s Winning Teams

Guaranteed Irish Brexit Meeting

As Ireland’s only Fertility Clinic with ‘Guaranteed Irish’ membership, we were delighted to attend this morning’s briefing “Ireland’s Winning Business Teams” which hosted an expert panel of guest speakers including Ms. Helen McEntee T.D. Minister for European Affairs.  The main discussion was on Brexit and what Irish businesses across the board need as the necessary outcome of the Brexit deal.

MFC take great pride in reflecting the Guaranteed Irish beliefs of Provenance, Quality and Trust.  Our policy for evidence based care and patient focused services reflect the Guaranteed Irish belief in maximum quality of Irish services.

Guaranteed Irish

Women still have to use their frozen eggs in 10 years – or lose them. Why?

 

Fertility specialists are advocating for a change in existing U.K. laws that require women who freeze their eggs to use them within 10 years. This time limit does not take into account the remarkable technological advances that have been made in the field, including the introduction of a greatly improved egg-freezing technique called vitrification. As a growing number of women pursue egg freezing in order to preserve their fertility, advocates argue that there is a growing need to update the current legislation around fertility.

To read more, please follow the link below:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/28/women-frozen-eggs-10-years-lose-them-fertility?CMP=share_btn_linkhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/28/women-frozen-eggs-10-years-lose-them-fertility?CMP=share_btn_link