# Our '£95 IVF' twins



## Wraakgodin (Jun 17, 2006)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1120670/Our-95-IVF-twins-First-British-mother-conceive-new-treatment-thats-bringing-hope-thousands.html#

Our '£95 IVF' twins: First British mother to conceive from new treatment that's bringing hope to thousands

By Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 10:00 PM on 17th January 2009

These are the first babies in Britain to be conceived using a pioneering technique which is a safer, cheaper and more convenient form of IVF.

Twins Ilia and Isabella Milkovic were born after their mother was treated using a new procedure called In Vitro Maturation, or IVM.

And their birth brings new hope for the growing numbers of couples seeking help to conceive.

Ilia and Isabella's mother Tina, 30, had been told she could not conceive naturally because she had polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), cysts on the ovaries which can affect fertility.

But now Tina and her husband Joe, 45, have spoken of their joy to be parents of twins after they chanced upon the Oxford Fertility Unit on the internet - which led to Tina becoming the first woman in the country to undergo IVM successfully.

In IVF - used by 30,000 couples a year in Britain, with about a 36 per cent success rate - women are injected with powerful hormonal drugs to stimulate the ovaries and mature the eggs before they are removed and fertilised in the laboratory.

The resulting embryos are then replanted back into the body.

One IVF cycle costs around £4,500 - £3,000 for treatment and a further £1,500 for the drugs.

But IVM means women do not need to use the drugs, because the procedure involves removing the eggs first and then maturing them in the laboratory before they are fertilised and put back into the womb.

They also have to attend a fertility clinic only twice - once to retrieve the eggs and again to have the embryos implanted.

And the drugs required cost only £95. Historically, success rates for IVM have been lower than IVF, but the IVM team at Oxford Fertility Unit has revealed it is achieving success rates of between 35 and 38 per cent.

It is thought to be particularly successful for women diagnosed with PCOS. Around one in ten women, including Victoria Beckham and Sophie Wessex, are thought to have the condition and are more likely to develop a rare but potentially fatal condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) as a result of IVF drugs.

Tina and Joe, a mortgage broker from Oxford, had reservations about using IVF because of the risk of OHSS - and going into the record books was the last thing on their minds when they approached the Oxford unit.

'We didn't think about being the first,' she said. 'I craved being a mother. I was desperate to have children and when you are told the chances are you can't, it becomes even more desperate.'

After the treatment, the couple did a pregnancy test. 'We were so excited,' Tina said. 'There had been times when I thought I would never see a positive test.'

Then, when they saw the unit's director, gynaecologist Tim Child for a scan, he told them: 'I've got good news. In fact, I've got doubly good news. I've got two heart beats.'
Tina said: 'We thought, "What? Are we dreaming? Are you sure?" I just cried. It was such a shock.

Mr Child ran out of the room to tell a colleague about the success. Then we realised this was a big deal. The excitement on his face made us realise we really were the first people in the UK to get pregnant in this way.'

The twins were born on October 18, 2007, by caesarean at 38 weeks. Ilia, the older by one minute, weighed in at a healthy 6lb 11oz, while his sister came in at 5lb 14oz.

'It was amazing to see them for the first time. We were ecstatic,' said Tina. 'Mr Child described it as a dream come true.'

Of 65 couples who have been treated using IVM at the Oxford clinic, ten babies have been born - including the twins - and a further ten couples are pregnant. Around 1,000 IVM babies have now been born worldwide.

Mr Child said: 'It's cheaper, quicker and safer than IVF and it shows the UK can compete with cutting-edge medicine.'


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## encore (May 27, 2004)

bargain.  if you average it out, my 3 cost about 6,000 quid each!


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## Caz (Jul 21, 2002)

Wow, well done to them!

I'm a little concerned though. The report suggests it cost £95 in total but, actually that was just the drugs. What does the actual treatment cost on top of that then? 

C~x


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## fluffyhelen9999 (May 13, 2005)

I was wondering the same thing, as surely they still need to do EC and ET so I can't see it being amazingly more cheaper!!  (maybe less a few scans than normal IVF??)


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## Lipgloss (Jul 20, 2004)

I agree - its pretty misleading. Nice headline grabber though  

What does really, really annoy me - and this is a bit of a personal gripe with magazines etc - is that over-used phrase "told that (s)he could not conceive naturally" with regard to the PCOS. Magazines seem to print this all the time. As a severe PCOS sufferer who has been incredibly fortunate to conceive without IVF - albeit after 2 years and lots of Clomid etc and male factor problem too - I know this is totally inaccurate. PCOS does make it very difficult to conceive without intervention, but you don't get told "you cannot conceive naturally". Sorry to rant, it just annoys me the way the press manipulate and mislead! Sometimes articles that are written about PCOS and other infertility issues are so badly worded.

 Will stop now!


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## fluffyhelen9999 (May 13, 2005)

yes, I think the same thing when I read those kinds of stories    I always kind of think 'is that all??', PCO isn't great, but on its own isn't really a reason for being told your never ever have kids


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## Rachel (Mar 10, 2004)

It would be no good for a poor responder like me as I need loads of drugs to actually get any eggs anyway! 

I also wonder how much the actual treatment would cost as it's still an ec and et and all the lab work etc


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## SleepyT (Aug 13, 2008)

It is miselading isn't it? Very frustrating when they get facts so wrong.

I've never heard of IVM before. It does interest me, as I am a bit of an "Unexplainder" - I have PCOS but no other obvious issues. Apparently I ovulate regularly, my cycles are fairly regular. So for me, £2800 is far better than £5000-£6000. And no stimulating drugs etc sounds good too. But there must be more to it..... 
x


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## SleepyT (Aug 13, 2008)

Just thought as well - I wonder if the new mum is an FFer??! Ya never know!.....


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## *Bev* (Dec 20, 2005)

What a crap article, fantastic news of course but just adds more confusion to the minefield...    Fantastic publicity for Oxford though....


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## turkish delight (Aug 24, 2008)

i just added up what it would cost me it's around £3100 ...without SA so not much cheaper as with pcos you don't need a lot of drugs i only spent around £400 last year and ivf was £2800 ish so with the lower success etc it's not really something i would be incline to try


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## Cambridge Girl (Oct 25, 2007)

Hi - I did a course of IVM treatment at Oxford in June 2008.  Our main reason for needing treatment being the fact my partner had a vaseactomy and failed reversal.

I was put off IVF because of the drugs involved and the side affects (OHSS), so we booked an appointment with Mr Tim Childs to see if we would fit the criteria - and we were surprised to be told I had polycystic ovaries on scan and therefore they were happy for us to do IVM.

This was my first cycle of any kind of treatment, so I can't compare to IVF.

Unfortunately, we were the first couple to not get any embryos to put back.  Mainly as they were only able to retrieve 3 eggs, which lowered our chances from the start.

I was told I wasn't polysystic enough, but that the low number of eggs retrieved through IVM would not have a bearing on any IVF attempts.  The two types of treatment are very different.

So we're back to square one with the only treatment option available being IVF with ICSI.  We got second opinions on having another attempt and reversing the vasectomy, but everyone has advised to go the IVF route.

I've had feedback from someone else on here who was successful with IVM and was expecting twins.  They were in very similar circumstances - failed vasectomy reversal etc, but they were able to retrieve many more eggs in her treatment cycle.  Maybe she was just more polysystic - who knows!

We're still paying for our treatment - basically £3000 (which includes ICSI which has to be used as the eggs are immature and sperm can't penetrate as in normal IVF).

I have to say, I'm so worried that if we do IVF we'll only end up with a low number of eggs again and it'll all be repeated heartache.

However, if we do manage to get enough money together for IVF, we will most likely be going back to Oxford - even though we live in Cambridge and Bourn clinic is local to us.  Their IVF success rates are very good, and it just doesn't feel so much like a business like other places with visited.

We've approached our PCT with the support of our GP, but we are not eligible for any fertility treatment due to my partners vasectomy.  I have no children, and still don't really know if everything is ok with me.

I just thought that I'd leave my experience of IVM on here as there is just so little information available.  If I was starting out now, I would still have tried out IVM before IVF.

Good luck everybody!

X


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