Special Report

Air Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2003

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Fertility Fix

Failed In Vitro Fertilization can drain emotions and virtually put a stop to many couples hopes of starting a family. Here is 7's Juli Auclair with a new test that may be a "Fertility Fix".

Cindy, Mother to-be
"To have such a strong desire to conceive a child and not be able to do so can be devastating."

Lisa, Mother
"You think, ‘oh my God, we might have twins' and then you get nothing and it's just, it's devastating."

Failed in vitro fertilization -- it happens to thousands of couples each year.

Alan Penzias, Boston IVF
"There are several big reasons why In Vitro won't work. One is that the embryos don't have the potential to become babies. The second is that the endrometrium is not receptive to implantation.

But now, a new test developed at Yale University, hopes to make the costly procedure more effective."

Harvey Kliman, PHD Yale Univ. School of Med.
"We've developed this test to look at the lining of the uterus so that this can be looked at before they have these procedures."

The Endometrial Function Test, or EFT, can tell doctors if your body is capable of receiving an embryo. If it's not, there is still hope. The test can give guidance to what needs to be fixed.

Dr. Harvey Kliman
"It's something like the soil, before you plant a garden, you want to make sure the soil is good, the pH is right and it has enough fertilizer."

Lisa and her husband Larry of Worcester along with Cindy and her husband Ross of Kingston both wanted to start families.

But a natural pregnancy wasn't working for either of them so they put their hopes of conceiving into the hands of science.

Lisa
"We had a donor, who made 24 eggs and 12 embryos, and none of them attached."

After many failed cycles, the women turned to the EFT.

Lisa
"It was either, you know, go down the adoption route, get off the infertility bandwagon, completely give it up, or try to figure out what was wrong."

For Lisa, the test results raised a red flag telling her doctors that her body mass needed to be adjusted.

Dr. Harvey Kliman
"The EFT can tell a patient that maybe you need to change your lifestyle a bit."

For Cindy, it gave her the reassurance to try one more time.

Cindy
"It gave us the confidence to proceed to the next IVS cycle knowing that there was a good chance that it would be successful."

For both women, their next in vitro cycles were successful, Lisa now with her new son, Benny, and Cindy, who is expecting a boy any day now.

Lisa
"After you go through infertility and you ride the infertility roller coaster you begin to realize that every live birth is a miracle."

Cindy
"This child is indeed a miracle and the experience of carrying him is awe inspiring."

Awe inspiring for the researchers at Yale as well, who hope someday the EFT becomes a standard procedure.

Its important to note that here in Massachusetts, In Vitro Fertilization is covered by most health insurers, the EFT, however, is not.

For more information:

Speaking engagement:

Dr. Harvey Kliman
RESOLVE OF THE BAYSTATE 10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Saturday, November 15, 2003
Implantation Failure and Recurrent Miscarriage
Session B from 11 - 12:30
Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, Marlboro, MA
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
www.resolveofthebaystate.org/ataglance.shtml