Professionals Recommend Transferring Fewer Embryos with IVF
By Danell Swim
March 24, 2008
Tim and Katie Lenzi faced emotional and financial hurdles in the four years in which Katie struggled to get pregnant.Miscarriage, failed in vitro fertilization cycles and the cost of treatment took a toll on the couple.
“The biggest thing is you feel alone when it happens to you,” Tim Lenzi said. “You want to be a parent, you want to have a family and you feel, well, why did we get singled out?”
So in 2001, when their doctor consulted them about how many embryos they wanted to use in their next IVF treatment, they said they would use all four that were available.
Katie was 32 at the time and she ultimately gave birth to twins.
As IVF technology and treatments have improved over the years, doctors are advising women to transfer fewer embryos during each cycle.
An IVF cycle costs about $15,000 and is not always covered by insurance, said Dr. John Rinehart, director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.
Subsequent cycles using frozen embryos can cost about $5,000 to $6,000, he said.Guidelines published by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine advise most women under the age of 35 to have a maximum of two embryos transferred.
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