41 Advances in the Infertility Field In 41 Years

In the 41 years since Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby was born there have been many advances in the infertility field. Here are 41 of them.




More than 8 million babies have been born around the world from IVF and other assisted reproductive technology since the birth of Louise Brown, the first “test-tube baby,” in 1978. As a practicing reproductive endocrinologist with more than 20 years of experience in the fertility space, I have seen an incredible transformation in infertility treatments.

Societal change and the acceptance of nontraditional parenting along with breakthroughs in science and medicine have expanded the frontiers of who can have a baby and how. Here are 41 developments that have revolutionized fertility treatments.

Societal changes

1. Women are having babies later in life

More women are focused on education and career. This means they are starting families later. It is also more common to hear about women having children in their late 40s and even at age 50. For example, Janet Jackson. They are most likely using donor eggs to get pregnant.

2. Non-traditional families

Societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ family building has grown in recent years, largely driven by wider awareness and tolerance among young people.

3. Social media

There is less stigma and shame attached to infertility as more people are talking about their experiences through social media. There are now hundreds of private Facebook groups for infertility support.

4. Celebrities sharing

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has openly shared her struggles with infertility, as have many other notable figures and celebrities. This transparency changed the landscape in the media and allowed more women to feel comfortable talking about their infertility.

5. Infertility support groups

Support groups for people struggling with infertility have proliferated online and at fertility centers.

6. State-mandated coverage

Since the 1980s, 16 states have mandated offering at least some health insurance coverage for fertility treatment.

7. Employer-sponsored fertility benefits

In 2018 more than 400 companies offered fertility benefits to their employees, according to Fertility IQ.

8. Fertility Benefit Management companies

As the demand for fertility treatment has increased, along with the cost of treatment, some companies have developed methods to encourage more effective treatment protocols that improve the employee experience and control cost for employers.

9. Fertility preservation

Freezing sperm or eggs preserves the ability to have a family in the future, The procedure is used to avoid infertility from the side effects of cancer treatment or from delaying childbearing to later years.

10. Egg freezing as a lifestyle choice

Young women who want to concentrate on a career or who haven’t found a life partner increasingly turn to egg freezing to make sure they can still have a family when they are older. The age of the egg matters much more than the age of the mother in a successful pregnancy.

11. Family balancing

PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis) may be used for gender selection, for family balancing or to avoid gender-linked genetic diseases.

12. Inexpensive genetic testing

Half-siblings from a common sperm donor can now find each other in online registries like 23andMe and Ancestry.com.

13. Embryo donation

People with extra frozen embryos from IVF cycles may donate them to others who want to bear a child, usually through an embryo adoption agency.

14. Surrogacy

Gestational surrogates have made parenthood possible for same-sex male couples, while also helping women who aren’t able to carry a baby to term.

Health and wellness
15. Benefits of nutrition on fertility

A recent Harvard study found that folic acid, vitamin B-12, omega 3 fatty acids, and healthy diets like the Mediterranean diet were linked to positive effects on fertility.

16. Yoga, exercise, lifestyle changes

Women undergoing IVF treatment are no longer told to stop exercising. Studies have shown that moderate exercise helps reduce stress and aids in controlling weight.

17. Fertility tracking apps

Smartphone apps aid in tracking periods, predicting ovulation, and calculating the “fertile window.”

18. Fertility counseling

Most fertility centers now offer psychological counseling to ameliorate the emotional stress of infertility, and fertility benefit management companies often provide a dedicated reproductive fertility behavioral health specialist.

Science and reproductive technology
19. Male factor infertility

Infertility is not only a “women’s problem.” Male factor infertility affects as many as 40 to 50 percent of infertility cases.

20. Medications

Fertility medications make IVF possible by stimulating the ovaries to make multiple eggs and regulating the IVF cycle.

21. Minimal stimulation IVF

Mini IVF uses lower doses of fertility medications to stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs. Fewer eggs are produced than with conventional IVF and although the success rates are lower, the medication cost is significantly reduced.

22. Costs

The average cost of an IVF cycle in the U.S. is $12,000, not including the cost of fertility medications, which can run over $10,000 per cycle. Americans pay more for IVF than anyone else in the world.

23. ICSI

The development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in the early 1990s enabled men with poor semen quality to become fathers by injecting a single sperm directly into an egg in the lab.

24. Sperm donation

Anonymous sperm donation and sperm banks play a large role in assisted reproductive technology for lesbian same-sex couples, single women who want to conceive, and heterosexual couples with male factor infertility.

25. Reducing multiple pregnancies

Until recently, standard IVF procedure involved transferring two or three embryos in order to increase the odds of one embryo implanting. This is much less frequently done now as it greatly increased the chance of multiple births, and “IVF twins” which had been common are now becoming rare.

26. Single embryo transfer

Embryo grading and/or testing allows better prediction of the healthiest embryo to transfer, enabling elective single embryo transfer (eSET), now considered an IVF best practice for many patients, and greatly reducing twin births.

27. Blastocyst transfer

A blastocyst is a five-day embryo. An embryo that grows for five days is thought to be a better prospect for a successful implantation than the old standard, a day-three embryo.

28. Frozen embryo transfers

Cryopreservation of embryos makes future IVF cycles less expensive because ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval are not needed. IVF success rates with frozen embryos are comparable to those using fresh embryos.

29. Vitrification

Flash freezing or vitrification has made it possible to freeze eggs and use them successfully in IVF treatment.

30. Egg banks

As vitrification has improved egg freezing, donor egg banks have become a new option as a source for eggs for women whose ovarian reserve is poor.

31. Egg freezing for cancer patients

Radiation and chemotherapy can render female patients infertile. Freezing eggs before treatment may allow cancer patients to have a biological child later. Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS)—PGS screens embryos for chromosome abnormalities, which cause miscarriages, Down syndrome, and Edwards syndrome.

32. Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS)

PGS screens embryos for chromosome abnormalities, which cause miscarriages, Down syndrome, and Edwards syndrome.

33. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)

PGD tests embryos for specific single-gene genetic diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs.

34. Reciprocal IVF

Also known as co-maternity, lesbian couples can share childbearing. One partner donates the egg for IVF, and the other partner carries the pregnancy.

35. Ovarian transplantation

As an alternative to freezing eggs, it is possible to preserve fertility in women prior to their undergoing cancer treatment by freezing ovarian tissue, prior to chemotherapy, and transplanting it back into the woman once the patient is cancer-free and is safe to get pregnant. This procedure was initially devised 10 years ago and while it’s still not commonly done, studies have found ovarian transplant to be safe and effective.

Currently in Development or Possible Future Directions for Reproductive Technology

36.Sperm and eggs from stem cells

Scientists have grown early-stage sperm and egg cells from stem cells in the lab. Still in very early stages, this technique could help infertile people in the future.

37. Extending embryo life in the lab

Researchers have recently grown embryos in the lab for 13 days, potentially providing crucial learning on how embryos develop during and after the window for transfer and implantation.

38. Gene editing

CRISPR, a new technique to edit genes, is being studied in animal models. It holds promise for the treatment of single-gene disorders like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia, as well as more complex diseases.

39. Three-person IVF

Mitochondrial replacement therapy replaces the mitochondrial DNA from an embryo at risk of mitochondrial disease with healthy DNA from a third-party donor. The controversial procedure is illegal in the U.S

40. Improving egg quality

The Augment treatment involves attempting to improve egg quality by injecting mitochondria from immature egg cells into mature eggs. Research has not yet proven this treatment to be effective.

41. Uterine transplantation

In 2017 the first baby was born in the U.S. from a transplanted uterus, part of a clinical trial at Baylor University. The procedure offers hope for women with absolute uterine factor infertility, meaning their uterus is non-functioning or nonexistent.

Imagine a future without infertility
We have accomplished so much in 41 years – just imagine what the next 41 will look like. Although a mind-boggling concept, societal changes, research, and science are driving us closer to eliminating infertility entirely.

Source