Innovative fertility treatment used to impregnate woman
Source: Xinhua |
December 10, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WANG Hui is four months pregnant with a test-tube baby conceived with a frozen egg, frozen sperm and a frozen embryo. She smiles on hearing the results of a pre-natal check - her unborn baby is healthy.
The baby is the world's third and China's second "three-frozens" baby, said Yang Qing, an expert at the People's Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, capital of the central Hubei Province.
Wang and her husband began fertility treatment at the hospital at the beginning of the year.
In July, doctors thawed and implanted into Wang's uterus two embryos that came from her eggs and her husband's sperm, which were frozen in March.
"Unlike sperm and embryo freezing technologies that are comparatively mature, egg freezing is cutting-edge technology still in the experimental stage," Yang said. "Compared to sperm and embryos, eggs are fragile. They may perish during the freezing and thawing process.
Doctors used egg vitrification technology, a new technique that freezes eggs almost instantly. This dramatically increases the survival rate of the frozen eggs.
And it is not just infertile couples who can benefit from the technique.
Young women with cancer can freeze their eggs before receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Yang said.
The world's first "three-frozens" test-tube baby was born in 2004 in Italy. China's first and the world's second was born in 2006 in Beijing.
"Many babies born around the world through in vitro fertilization have proved healthy," said Yang. "However, we still need to do long-term evaluations of these babies to decide whether there are any health hazards with the technology."
"The rapid development of IVF is promising but we still encourage natural conception since babies conceived naturally are more likely to be healthy," Yang added.
The baby is the world's third and China's second "three-frozens" baby, said Yang Qing, an expert at the People's Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, capital of the central Hubei Province.
Wang and her husband began fertility treatment at the hospital at the beginning of the year.
In July, doctors thawed and implanted into Wang's uterus two embryos that came from her eggs and her husband's sperm, which were frozen in March.
"Unlike sperm and embryo freezing technologies that are comparatively mature, egg freezing is cutting-edge technology still in the experimental stage," Yang said. "Compared to sperm and embryos, eggs are fragile. They may perish during the freezing and thawing process.
Doctors used egg vitrification technology, a new technique that freezes eggs almost instantly. This dramatically increases the survival rate of the frozen eggs.
And it is not just infertile couples who can benefit from the technique.
Young women with cancer can freeze their eggs before receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Yang said.
The world's first "three-frozens" test-tube baby was born in 2004 in Italy. China's first and the world's second was born in 2006 in Beijing.
"Many babies born around the world through in vitro fertilization have proved healthy," said Yang. "However, we still need to do long-term evaluations of these babies to decide whether there are any health hazards with the technology."
"The rapid development of IVF is promising but we still encourage natural conception since babies conceived naturally are more likely to be healthy," Yang added.
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