They have been side-by-side since before birth, and have so far done everything together.
But on their first day at school, Connor and Brad Terry might have to go it alone, after authorities ordered the three-year-old twins to attend different primaries.
Connor was given the last remaining place at their mother Samantha's first choice of school, and his brother has to go to a school one mile away.
Separated at three: Samantha Terry's twins Brad and Connor will start school in September but have been put in different schools
Miss Terry, 40, is battling to overturn the decision she fears will 'devastate' the small boys. Born 24 minutes apart, Connor and Brad are virtually inseparable. Their mother said: 'I was on hot coals waiting to hear where the boys would be placed in their first schools.
'I wouldn't mind not getting my first choice - but to read they would go to completely different schools - I just thought there was some mistake.
"I chose that school because the boys go to a nursery on the same complex.
"For pure continuity reasons I wanted the children to go there, plus it is an excellent school, I just assumed they would notice the boys were twins."I don't think that is too much to ask. Maybe I was naive but I just thought the education authority would realise they had two boys with the same surname, address and date of birth.
"Connor is very dependent on people and routine and set ways, Brad is a little more independent, I don't know how this would affect their emotional growth.
'When I was told it was not a mistake I was horrified. I cannot consider the consequences of separating the twins at such a tender age.'
Single mum Samantha wanted both Connor and Brad to go to Wainscott Primary School in Medway
Miss Terry, of Rochester, Kent, says there was no space on the application form to note a child is one of a twin pair. As a result Connor and Brad - who she wants to go to Wainscott Primary School, in Medway - were processed separately.
Connor claimed the last place while Brad was assigned to Hilltop Primary School, a 15-minute walk away.
Miss Terry, an accountant who also has a son of 20, said: 'I cannot be in two places at the same time.'
She must attend an appeal later this month to contest Medway Council's decision.
Keith Reed, chief executive of the charity, the Twins and Multiple Births Association, warned of the dangers of separating the twins.
He said: 'During the early years, there tends to be a strong bond between twins, triplets or higher multiples and separating them against their will could potentially have a negative impact on their behavioural and emotional development.'
"Other local authorities have introduced simple measures to overcome these difficulties, such as calling multiple birth families to explore their choices prior to formally sending out the results.
"Clearly the council needs to reconsider how its application process impacts on multiple birth families and seek to make improvements.
"If it feels that it is tied by legislation then it should raise the problem with the relevant Government Minister - but doing nothing is inexcusable."
Torn: Connor got the last place at Wainscott Primary, while Brad has been ordered to go to Hilltop Primary School, which is a 15-minute walk from his brother
A Medway council spokesman said the 30 places at Wainscott Primary were filled according to guidelines for over-subscribed schools.
These give priority to children with older siblings already at the school, and to those who live closest.
Brad was 31st on the list, and to give him a place 'would have denied another child with a right to a place', the spokesman said.
'The circumstances are extremely rare, and changing the application form to indicate twins or multiple births would not have prevented the same outcome,' he said.
Monday, 30 June 2008
Friday, 27 June 2008
gazette and herald - Triplets split up by a change of schools
BUSY mum Debbie Sawyer is full of apprehension once again as her triplets start secondary school.
The Gazette has followed the trials and tribulations of Charlotte, Katherine and Eddy since they were born in 1997.
The 11-year-olds are now preparing for their secondary education in September.
Mrs Sawyer, 46, of Sheldon Road, Chippenham, said: "The last time we did a piece for the paper was when the triplets were just starting Ivy Lane Primary School, which seems like a lifetime ago.
"The past six years have flown by and I cannot believe I am getting ready to wave them off to school again.
"We have had a very busy six years and the triplets have really developed into their own characters.
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"We never really planned for triplets - we just wanted a fourth child, and that child turned out to be three instead of one.
"I think the triplets are really looking forward to secondary school, just not as much as the summer holiday stretched out before them."
Mrs Sawyer has three more children - Harriet, 13, Georgina, 15 and Martin, 16.
The triplets are not going to the same secondary school.
Charlotte and Katherine will go to Hardenhuish with Georgina and Harriet and Eddy will go to Sheldon with Martin.
Mrs Sawyer said: "This will be the first time in their lives that they will go their separate ways - but it has been totally their choice.
"I said they could have full control over which school they wanted to go to and this is what they have chosen.
"I think our family was the first to have six children at the same school at the same time when they were all at Ivy Lane.
"All of my children are so widely different and I think the fact that the triplets are not identical really helps."
Mrs Sawyer, who works as a carer at the Bluebell Lodge care home, and van driver husband Colin, 49, admit that their lives are far from peaceful but they say they would not want anything to change.
Mrs Sawyer said: "We are one big happy family and I think the fact that the children don't have to attend the same school and remain so close speaks volumes.
"I am proud of all my kids and they are a credit to me."
The Gazette has followed the trials and tribulations of Charlotte, Katherine and Eddy since they were born in 1997.
The 11-year-olds are now preparing for their secondary education in September.
Mrs Sawyer, 46, of Sheldon Road, Chippenham, said: "The last time we did a piece for the paper was when the triplets were just starting Ivy Lane Primary School, which seems like a lifetime ago.
"The past six years have flown by and I cannot believe I am getting ready to wave them off to school again.
"We have had a very busy six years and the triplets have really developed into their own characters.
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"We never really planned for triplets - we just wanted a fourth child, and that child turned out to be three instead of one.
"I think the triplets are really looking forward to secondary school, just not as much as the summer holiday stretched out before them."
Mrs Sawyer has three more children - Harriet, 13, Georgina, 15 and Martin, 16.
The triplets are not going to the same secondary school.
Charlotte and Katherine will go to Hardenhuish with Georgina and Harriet and Eddy will go to Sheldon with Martin.
Mrs Sawyer said: "This will be the first time in their lives that they will go their separate ways - but it has been totally their choice.
"I said they could have full control over which school they wanted to go to and this is what they have chosen.
"I think our family was the first to have six children at the same school at the same time when they were all at Ivy Lane.
"All of my children are so widely different and I think the fact that the triplets are not identical really helps."
Mrs Sawyer, who works as a carer at the Bluebell Lodge care home, and van driver husband Colin, 49, admit that their lives are far from peaceful but they say they would not want anything to change.
Mrs Sawyer said: "We are one big happy family and I think the fact that the children don't have to attend the same school and remain so close speaks volumes.
"I am proud of all my kids and they are a credit to me."
keighleynews - Twins tragedy leads to fundraising effort
A childminding group has rallied round to raise money in memory of twin baby boys who tragically died before they were born.
Childminder Audrey Sands has raised money for the Sands charity (no connection) after a mother in the group lost her twins to a rare condition.
Janine Newman, from Keighley, found out that her identical twin babies were suffering from Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) four months into her pregnancy and by eight months both her sons had died. The syndrome meant the babies shared a single placenta, which can restrict the blood supply to one baby.
Ms Newman said: "I had lots of surgery to try to sever the links so that they could be independent but it wasn't successful.
"I lost one of the babies before Christmas, which I had to keep carrying for the sake of the other one, which I lost in January two weeks before he was due to be born." Ms Newman then had to go through the trauma of giving birth to the twins in hospital. During that difficult time, the group began raising money for the Sands charity - which supports people affected by the death of a baby - by holding a competition to guess the weight of two new-born babies in the group.
Ms Sands showed parents a picture of mothers Michelle Atkins and Emma Buckley when they were pregnant and asked them to guess what weight and gender the babies would be when they were born. Mrs Atkins's baby girl, Lottie Lou, weighed 9lb 6oz, and Mrs Buckley's baby, Ellie May, weighed 7lb 9oz. Altogether the group managed to raise £53 for the charity.
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Ms Newman, who has a five year-old son Ben, said she was touched by the gesture.
She and her partner, Andrew Grant, named the twin boys Cameron and Finlay.
Anyone who would like to donate to the Sands charity can visit uk-sand
Childminder Audrey Sands has raised money for the Sands charity (no connection) after a mother in the group lost her twins to a rare condition.
Janine Newman, from Keighley, found out that her identical twin babies were suffering from Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) four months into her pregnancy and by eight months both her sons had died. The syndrome meant the babies shared a single placenta, which can restrict the blood supply to one baby.
Ms Newman said: "I had lots of surgery to try to sever the links so that they could be independent but it wasn't successful.
"I lost one of the babies before Christmas, which I had to keep carrying for the sake of the other one, which I lost in January two weeks before he was due to be born." Ms Newman then had to go through the trauma of giving birth to the twins in hospital. During that difficult time, the group began raising money for the Sands charity - which supports people affected by the death of a baby - by holding a competition to guess the weight of two new-born babies in the group.
Ms Sands showed parents a picture of mothers Michelle Atkins and Emma Buckley when they were pregnant and asked them to guess what weight and gender the babies would be when they were born. Mrs Atkins's baby girl, Lottie Lou, weighed 9lb 6oz, and Mrs Buckley's baby, Ellie May, weighed 7lb 9oz. Altogether the group managed to raise £53 for the charity.
advertisement
Ms Newman, who has a five year-old son Ben, said she was touched by the gesture.
She and her partner, Andrew Grant, named the twin boys Cameron and Finlay.
Anyone who would like to donate to the Sands charity can visit uk-sand
The Telegraph - Drive to cut number of IVF twins hampered by lack of NHS funding
The drive to reduce the number of dangerous twin pregnancies resulting from IVF is being hampered by a lack of NHS funding, experts warned.
The chances of conceiving twins or triplets is 20 times higher after having IVF treatment than naturally and the risks to both mother and children are much greater.
Mothers are more likely to suffer complications in pregnancy and to die if they are carrying more than one baby and the children are at greater risk of being born premature and small, requiring expensive intensive care, and have more birth defects and lifelong disabilities.
Fertility doctors and patient groups have launched a national strategy to reduce multiple pregnancies by implanting fewer embryos in the womb when treating some women.
The majority of women currently have two embryos implanted when undergoing fertility treatment and more should have just one, it was said.
Younger couples who have a good chance of achieving a pregnancy and who have several high quality embryos will be selected to have one embryo implanted in the womb.
The rest should be frozen and if the fresh cycle fails these can be thawed and implanted one at a time until a pregnancy is achieved.
It is vital that the NHS funds the full cycle, including all frozen embryo transfers, otherwise patients will not accept a move to single embryo transfer, it was warned.
Currently only 30 per cent of primary care trusts fund the full cycle of IVF and the more than 90 per cent do not meet current guidelines of providing eligible couples with three cycles.
Targets set by the fertility regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority mean all clinics should ensure the proportion of multiple births should not exceed the current level of 24 per cent from 2009.
Around 40 per cent of clinics currently have a higher multiple birth rate than this.
After three years the HFEA expects the multiple birth rate to be brought down to 10 per cent and will inspect clinics to ensure they are working to reduce the rate of twins. In extreme cases clinics could have conditions put on their licence or have it revoked it they refuse to act to reduce multiple births, Trish Davies, director of regulation at the HFEA said.
Choosing the right patients for single embryo transfer, growing the embryos for longer in the lab and using sophisticated techniques to select the best quality embryo will reduce the number of twins without harming the chances of a successful pregnancy in those couples, it was argued.
Alun Elias-Jones, consultant paediatrician and Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the NHS should invest in funding three full cycles of IVF for couples which would reduce the number of multiple births as it would save money in the long run.
He said: "Every set of averted premature twins will fund many many cycles of IVF."
Dr Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said the success of bringing down the multiple pregnancy rate depends on improving NHS funding.
He said: "It is absolutely imperative that the funding issues are addressed in collaboration with initiatives like this."
Jane Denton, director of the Multiple Birth Foundation said: "While there a very understandable perception that twins are an absolute delight we very much underestimate things like bereavement and disability which is very much hidden.
"Through the One at a Time campaign and its website we hope to give professionals, patients and the public authoritative information about multiple pregnancy and birth to help them understand the risks and consequences."
Claire Brown, chief executive of the Infertility Network UK said: "Single embryo transfer is only for those patients most at risk of having a multiple pregnancy. We totally understand patients worry about anything that might affect their chances of a successful pregnancy and think twins means completing their family in one go and mean they don't have to go through IVF again. But we have to think about what is best for the mother and the child.
"If patients know they are going to get the three full cycles funded on the NHS they are going to be much more accepting of single embryo transfer."
Tamba Chief Executive Keith Reed said: “The views of patients and doctors have been completely ignored by the HFEA and the national strategy group. During the HFEA’s recent consultation, only 3 per cent of respondents supported what the National Strategy Group are proposing. In the face of such overwhelming opposition, it beggars belief that they have decided to carry on regardless.
“As a result of this deeply unpopular and misplaced strategy, patients will be left out of pocket and out of choices. They must think again.”
The chances of conceiving twins or triplets is 20 times higher after having IVF treatment than naturally and the risks to both mother and children are much greater.
Mothers are more likely to suffer complications in pregnancy and to die if they are carrying more than one baby and the children are at greater risk of being born premature and small, requiring expensive intensive care, and have more birth defects and lifelong disabilities.
Fertility doctors and patient groups have launched a national strategy to reduce multiple pregnancies by implanting fewer embryos in the womb when treating some women.
The majority of women currently have two embryos implanted when undergoing fertility treatment and more should have just one, it was said.
Younger couples who have a good chance of achieving a pregnancy and who have several high quality embryos will be selected to have one embryo implanted in the womb.
The rest should be frozen and if the fresh cycle fails these can be thawed and implanted one at a time until a pregnancy is achieved.
It is vital that the NHS funds the full cycle, including all frozen embryo transfers, otherwise patients will not accept a move to single embryo transfer, it was warned.
Currently only 30 per cent of primary care trusts fund the full cycle of IVF and the more than 90 per cent do not meet current guidelines of providing eligible couples with three cycles.
Targets set by the fertility regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority mean all clinics should ensure the proportion of multiple births should not exceed the current level of 24 per cent from 2009.
Around 40 per cent of clinics currently have a higher multiple birth rate than this.
After three years the HFEA expects the multiple birth rate to be brought down to 10 per cent and will inspect clinics to ensure they are working to reduce the rate of twins. In extreme cases clinics could have conditions put on their licence or have it revoked it they refuse to act to reduce multiple births, Trish Davies, director of regulation at the HFEA said.
Choosing the right patients for single embryo transfer, growing the embryos for longer in the lab and using sophisticated techniques to select the best quality embryo will reduce the number of twins without harming the chances of a successful pregnancy in those couples, it was argued.
Alun Elias-Jones, consultant paediatrician and Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the NHS should invest in funding three full cycles of IVF for couples which would reduce the number of multiple births as it would save money in the long run.
He said: "Every set of averted premature twins will fund many many cycles of IVF."
Dr Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said the success of bringing down the multiple pregnancy rate depends on improving NHS funding.
He said: "It is absolutely imperative that the funding issues are addressed in collaboration with initiatives like this."
Jane Denton, director of the Multiple Birth Foundation said: "While there a very understandable perception that twins are an absolute delight we very much underestimate things like bereavement and disability which is very much hidden.
"Through the One at a Time campaign and its website we hope to give professionals, patients and the public authoritative information about multiple pregnancy and birth to help them understand the risks and consequences."
Claire Brown, chief executive of the Infertility Network UK said: "Single embryo transfer is only for those patients most at risk of having a multiple pregnancy. We totally understand patients worry about anything that might affect their chances of a successful pregnancy and think twins means completing their family in one go and mean they don't have to go through IVF again. But we have to think about what is best for the mother and the child.
"If patients know they are going to get the three full cycles funded on the NHS they are going to be much more accepting of single embryo transfer."
Tamba Chief Executive Keith Reed said: “The views of patients and doctors have been completely ignored by the HFEA and the national strategy group. During the HFEA’s recent consultation, only 3 per cent of respondents supported what the National Strategy Group are proposing. In the face of such overwhelming opposition, it beggars belief that they have decided to carry on regardless.
“As a result of this deeply unpopular and misplaced strategy, patients will be left out of pocket and out of choices. They must think again.”
ukpress - Society in funding call on IVF
A drive to cut the number of twins born from IVF could be affected by a lack of funding for treatment on the NHS, experts have warned.
The fertility watchdog and key doctors have joined forces to launch a national strategy urging clinics to cut the number of multiple births.
Currently, 24% of IVF births involve twins or triplets but experts have been calling for this to be cut to 10% over a three-year period.
Multiple pregnancies are linked to health problems for both mother and babies, with around half of twins requiring specialist hospital care.
Dr Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, pointed to "very patchy" funding for IVF across England.
He said it was "imperative that the funding issues around IVF" were addressed in collaboration with the launch of the new strategy. "The funding issue is very, very important," he added.
Many NHS trusts offer women just one cycle of IVF, leaving some patients wanting to have two embryos implanted at the same time in one cycle to maximise their chances of success.
Some doctors also argue that older women have a higher chance of success if they have several embryos transferred, without an associated high risk of a multiple birth.
In 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended that women should get access to three cycles of IVF on the NHS. Former health secretary John Reid reduced this to one but the Government has since said NHS clinics should work towards implementing the guideline on three cycles in full.
Dr Hamilton said 60% of primary care trusts currently offer one cycle, 30% offer two cycles and just 5% offer three. He said it was "absolutely essential" that women were allowed to use any spare frozen embryos if their one cycle with a fresh embryo had failed.
The fertility watchdog and key doctors have joined forces to launch a national strategy urging clinics to cut the number of multiple births.
Currently, 24% of IVF births involve twins or triplets but experts have been calling for this to be cut to 10% over a three-year period.
Multiple pregnancies are linked to health problems for both mother and babies, with around half of twins requiring specialist hospital care.
Dr Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, pointed to "very patchy" funding for IVF across England.
He said it was "imperative that the funding issues around IVF" were addressed in collaboration with the launch of the new strategy. "The funding issue is very, very important," he added.
Many NHS trusts offer women just one cycle of IVF, leaving some patients wanting to have two embryos implanted at the same time in one cycle to maximise their chances of success.
Some doctors also argue that older women have a higher chance of success if they have several embryos transferred, without an associated high risk of a multiple birth.
In 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended that women should get access to three cycles of IVF on the NHS. Former health secretary John Reid reduced this to one but the Government has since said NHS clinics should work towards implementing the guideline on three cycles in full.
Dr Hamilton said 60% of primary care trusts currently offer one cycle, 30% offer two cycles and just 5% offer three. He said it was "absolutely essential" that women were allowed to use any spare frozen embryos if their one cycle with a fresh embryo had failed.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Evening Standard - Postcode lottery blocks free IVF to infertile couples
Infertile London couples desperate to become parents are being denied full fertility treatment by the NHS, new figures reveal today.
Thousands in the capital face a postcode lottery over free IVF because health trusts are using "haphazard" eligibility criteria.
Some London health trusts are refusing childless women treatment because their boyfriend has children from a previous relationship. However, other trusts will treat mothers with as many as four offspring from previous relationships.
Infertility campaigners and experts today condemned this randomness over free fertility treatment as "cruel".
National guidelines published four years ago said trusts should provide three free cycles of IVF for patients up to the age of 39.
But a government survey show London trusts are still not funding all three cycles. Only four out of 31 in the capital plan to offer full IVF treatment but this will not be available until next year. Eighteen provide just one cycle of IVF - the minimum level. Less than half pay for women to have their embryos frozen - a technique which increases greatly a patient's chance of becoming pregnant.
This failure to fund IVF could jeopardise a new campaign by doctors to cut multiple births. The British Fertility Society and the Association of Clinical Embryologists will tomorrow urge IVF clinics to put back only one embryo in women at high risk of conceiving twins.
This is in response to a huge rise in multiple IVF births which can endanger women and their babies. But experts who back single-embryo
transfer also warn it will only work if trusts fund three treatment cycles and pay to freeze embryos.
Professor Peter Braude, who headed an official consultation into multiple births, accused the Government of "hypocrisy". The fertility expert from King's College said: "The Government is against patients paying for top-up care for cancer treatment. But they let women having NHS fertility treatment pay to have their embryos frozen."
Dr Allan Pacey, secretary of the BFS, said: "It's a national disgrace that fertility treatment is not being funded properly. Other countries do it."
Infertility Network UK will highlight the "haphazard" eligibility criteria used by many trusts at a conference marking national infertility day next month. Clare Brown, the charity's chief executive, will call on health trusts to increase the level of free treatment for infertile couples as recommended by Nice.
She said: "Refusing to treat women until the age of 35 or 37 is just totally unacceptable, not cost-effective, and worst of all not good clinical practice."
The Government IVF findings are based on a survey of primary care trusts carried out last year. They show variations in age criteria used by trusts. For example, women as young as 20 in Hillingdon can obtain treatment. But those living in Barnet are only sent to the front of the queue if they are older and in Greenwich female patients must be between 28 and 35 at referral.
Thousands in the capital face a postcode lottery over free IVF because health trusts are using "haphazard" eligibility criteria.
Some London health trusts are refusing childless women treatment because their boyfriend has children from a previous relationship. However, other trusts will treat mothers with as many as four offspring from previous relationships.
Infertility campaigners and experts today condemned this randomness over free fertility treatment as "cruel".
National guidelines published four years ago said trusts should provide three free cycles of IVF for patients up to the age of 39.
But a government survey show London trusts are still not funding all three cycles. Only four out of 31 in the capital plan to offer full IVF treatment but this will not be available until next year. Eighteen provide just one cycle of IVF - the minimum level. Less than half pay for women to have their embryos frozen - a technique which increases greatly a patient's chance of becoming pregnant.
This failure to fund IVF could jeopardise a new campaign by doctors to cut multiple births. The British Fertility Society and the Association of Clinical Embryologists will tomorrow urge IVF clinics to put back only one embryo in women at high risk of conceiving twins.
This is in response to a huge rise in multiple IVF births which can endanger women and their babies. But experts who back single-embryo
transfer also warn it will only work if trusts fund three treatment cycles and pay to freeze embryos.
Professor Peter Braude, who headed an official consultation into multiple births, accused the Government of "hypocrisy". The fertility expert from King's College said: "The Government is against patients paying for top-up care for cancer treatment. But they let women having NHS fertility treatment pay to have their embryos frozen."
Dr Allan Pacey, secretary of the BFS, said: "It's a national disgrace that fertility treatment is not being funded properly. Other countries do it."
Infertility Network UK will highlight the "haphazard" eligibility criteria used by many trusts at a conference marking national infertility day next month. Clare Brown, the charity's chief executive, will call on health trusts to increase the level of free treatment for infertile couples as recommended by Nice.
She said: "Refusing to treat women until the age of 35 or 37 is just totally unacceptable, not cost-effective, and worst of all not good clinical practice."
The Government IVF findings are based on a survey of primary care trusts carried out last year. They show variations in age criteria used by trusts. For example, women as young as 20 in Hillingdon can obtain treatment. But those living in Barnet are only sent to the front of the queue if they are older and in Greenwich female patients must be between 28 and 35 at referral.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
WebMD - Alzheimer’s Drug May Help Preemies
A drug used to treat older patients with Alzheimer's disease may help protect the youngest premature infants from harm.
A new study suggests that Namenda, a drug originally developed to treat Alzheimer's disease, may help break the cycle of brain damage many premature infants face.
Researchers found that rats treated with Namenda suffered less brain damage after a loss of oxygen and blood supply to the brain, a common problem in premature infants because of underdeveloped organs.
These findings are only preliminary and must be replicated in humans, but researchers say the results may offer a new avenue for treating and potentially preventing brain damage among premature infants. No such treatment exists.
Protecting Premature Brains
An increase in the number of multiple births has led to a rise in the number of premature births in the U.S. Although advances in medicine have meant improved survival rates for most premature infants, up to 35% of premature infants suffer from lasting brain damage, which can lead to learning difficulties and conditions like cerebral palsy.
Researchers say the problem in developing treatments to prevent brain damage in premature infants is that the premature brain behaves very differently from the adult brain.
"The premature brain is not just a 'small' adult brain -- it is physiologically different and thus contains unique targets for therapy," says researcher Frances Jensen, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, in a news release.
Jensen says a loss of blood and oxygen to the brain appears to act upon brain cells known as oligodendrocytes in the premature brain. Immature forms of these cells are particularly vulnerable to damage during development.
Namenda Targets Vulnerable Brain Cells
In this study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers first confirmed the presence of NMDA receptors in premature brains of humans as well as rats. NMDA receptors are targeted by Namenda.
Then researchers tested the effects of a loss of oxygen and blood supply on oligodendrocytes treated with Namenda. Without treatment, the loss of blood and oxygen supply triggered an over-activation of the NMDA receptors, leading to brain damage and loss of white matter.
But when rat pups were treated with Namenda after the episode, the rats suffered less immediate and long-term injury.
Researchers say the next step will be to evaluate the potential safety risks of treating newborns with Namenda and conducting clinical trials.
View Article Sources
A new study suggests that Namenda, a drug originally developed to treat Alzheimer's disease, may help break the cycle of brain damage many premature infants face.
Researchers found that rats treated with Namenda suffered less brain damage after a loss of oxygen and blood supply to the brain, a common problem in premature infants because of underdeveloped organs.
These findings are only preliminary and must be replicated in humans, but researchers say the results may offer a new avenue for treating and potentially preventing brain damage among premature infants. No such treatment exists.
Protecting Premature Brains
An increase in the number of multiple births has led to a rise in the number of premature births in the U.S. Although advances in medicine have meant improved survival rates for most premature infants, up to 35% of premature infants suffer from lasting brain damage, which can lead to learning difficulties and conditions like cerebral palsy.
Researchers say the problem in developing treatments to prevent brain damage in premature infants is that the premature brain behaves very differently from the adult brain.
"The premature brain is not just a 'small' adult brain -- it is physiologically different and thus contains unique targets for therapy," says researcher Frances Jensen, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, in a news release.
Jensen says a loss of blood and oxygen to the brain appears to act upon brain cells known as oligodendrocytes in the premature brain. Immature forms of these cells are particularly vulnerable to damage during development.
Namenda Targets Vulnerable Brain Cells
In this study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers first confirmed the presence of NMDA receptors in premature brains of humans as well as rats. NMDA receptors are targeted by Namenda.
Then researchers tested the effects of a loss of oxygen and blood supply on oligodendrocytes treated with Namenda. Without treatment, the loss of blood and oxygen supply triggered an over-activation of the NMDA receptors, leading to brain damage and loss of white matter.
But when rat pups were treated with Namenda after the episode, the rats suffered less immediate and long-term injury.
Researchers say the next step will be to evaluate the potential safety risks of treating newborns with Namenda and conducting clinical trials.
View Article Sources
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Foxs News - Grandmother, 47, Gives Birth to Naturally Conceived Triplets
Janelle Perry, a grandmother from Queensland, Australia, has given birth to naturally conceived triplet boys in a ‘one-in-a-million’ delivery at Brisbane's Mater Mothers' Hospital.
Janelle and husband Robert's tiny trio - Cooper, Kyle and Jordan - were born at 34 weeks' gestation by caesarean section last week.
Doctors are "99.9 percent certain" the boys are identical.Perry, who turns 47 next week, now has eight children. She said she is adamant that is enough.Perry has four children in their 20s from a previous marriage, a daughter, Rebecca, 4, with Robert, and two grandchildren.
The Perrys, of Logan, south of Brisbane, sold all their baby things last October after trying unsuccessfully for two years to have more children.
A doctor had given Perry a five percent chance of having another child naturally.
"We thought: 'Oh well. It'll probably never happen'. We'd sort of given up," Perry said."Rebecca kept telling me in November: 'You've got three babies in your tummy, Mummy - one for me, one for Dad and one for you'. I thought: 'No way' and told her: ‘There are no babies in there'. Then, in December, I found out I was pregnant."
She said she is still coming to terms with the challenge of having identical triplets.
"I'll probably have to use different colored nail polish on them to tell them apart,” she added. “I don't want to get them mixed up. We've got to get a whiteboard so we can write down who's been fed and how much. Getting into a routine, that's the main thing."
Robert Perry, a crane operator, has taken a full year of paternity leave to help care for the boys in their three-bedroom home.
Queensland Fertility Group's David Molloy said the chance of having identical triplets at 46 was "probably the same as winning Gold Lotto."
Doctors believe the Perry babies are almost certainly monochorionic triamniotic triplets, meaning they are from one egg and sperm which split in the first few days after fertilization.
Cooper weighed 3 pounds, 4 ounces; Kyle weighed three pounds, 6 ounces; and Jordan weighed three pounds, five ounces.
They will have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, doctors said.
Janelle and husband Robert's tiny trio - Cooper, Kyle and Jordan - were born at 34 weeks' gestation by caesarean section last week.
Doctors are "99.9 percent certain" the boys are identical.Perry, who turns 47 next week, now has eight children. She said she is adamant that is enough.Perry has four children in their 20s from a previous marriage, a daughter, Rebecca, 4, with Robert, and two grandchildren.
The Perrys, of Logan, south of Brisbane, sold all their baby things last October after trying unsuccessfully for two years to have more children.
A doctor had given Perry a five percent chance of having another child naturally.
"We thought: 'Oh well. It'll probably never happen'. We'd sort of given up," Perry said."Rebecca kept telling me in November: 'You've got three babies in your tummy, Mummy - one for me, one for Dad and one for you'. I thought: 'No way' and told her: ‘There are no babies in there'. Then, in December, I found out I was pregnant."
She said she is still coming to terms with the challenge of having identical triplets.
"I'll probably have to use different colored nail polish on them to tell them apart,” she added. “I don't want to get them mixed up. We've got to get a whiteboard so we can write down who's been fed and how much. Getting into a routine, that's the main thing."
Robert Perry, a crane operator, has taken a full year of paternity leave to help care for the boys in their three-bedroom home.
Queensland Fertility Group's David Molloy said the chance of having identical triplets at 46 was "probably the same as winning Gold Lotto."
Doctors believe the Perry babies are almost certainly monochorionic triamniotic triplets, meaning they are from one egg and sperm which split in the first few days after fertilization.
Cooper weighed 3 pounds, 4 ounces; Kyle weighed three pounds, 6 ounces; and Jordan weighed three pounds, five ounces.
They will have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, doctors said.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Hello - J Lo and Marc touch down in Europe with their new babies
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's baby twins are getting their first taste of life on the road. Given their parents' superstar status four-month-old Emme Maribel and Max David are travelling in some luxury, of course.The family arrived on a private jet in Antwerp, Belgium, where Marc was due to perform. Jennifer emerged first cradling her little girl in a pink-trimmed blanket, while her husband carried the couple's son in a blue-edged boy's version.Since their birth the twins' dad has praised his 38-year-old wife as "an amazing mom". "I'm so proud of her. She's such a gem to watch," marvelled Marc. And it seems the Latina entertainer's maternal instincts extend to other kids, too. Earlier this week J Lo dropped by to perform her hit Let's Get Loud to an audience of autistic children at a New York primary school after they wrote to her saying it was one of their favourite songs.
ITV: Identical Triplets - Their Secret World
To be an identical triplet is special: on average just four sets are born each year in the UK. To the rest of us, their world seems unimaginable, even bizarre: three identical people who started life as one fertilised egg before it separated and three individuals grew.
Identical Triplets: Their Secret World journeys into the world of the identical triplet to find out what's unique about nature's own remarkable clones. Aside from their looks, just how similar are identical triplets in other ways? We meet four sets of triplets, and through stunts, tests and investigation learn about intense competition, extreme sibling rivalry, and whether nature or nurture has shaped their personalities and desires. And in an extraordinary experiment with one set of triplets, we explore how in tune their emotions are to see whether identical triplets could possibly share a sixth sense, or even Extra Sensory Perception, which allows them to secretly communicate. Meet some experts - Doris, Gladys and Alice, all aged 80 – Britain's oldest set of identical triplets. So who's the boss? The Suttons boys - Ed, Craig and Scott - couldn't be closer. The 21-year-old triplets live together in the same house and form a band called the Noise Next Door. But who can tell them apart? Even their mum sometimes has difficulty. And the Elvin girls from Edinburgh: Lorna, Leanne and Lindsey. When these girls are getting ready to party it's every triplet for herself. Blonde, tall and stunning, the Humphris triplets Anne, Libby and Katy (22) have always attracted attention. When they were 18 they were spotted at the Clothes Show and snapped up for a career in modelling. Now the girls are getting used to living independent lives, though separation of the threesome is still an emotional event. The Elvin girls and Sutton boys take part in a fun first experiment: can the triplets outfox photographers who believe they're actually shooting one person when there are three of them? Next a series of physical tests explore how the two sets of triplets fare competing physically against each other. And as Katy Humphris goes travelling for an extended period, we hear what it's like to be separated from her identical two sisters. And do they fancy the same people? Identical Triplets: Their Secret World compares the triplets' body language on a series of speed dates before setting up the ultimate prank by a set of triplets on another set of triplets – a date that swaps the Elvin and Sutton triplets around without each other knowing.
The Suttons boys - Ed, Craig and Scott - couldn't be closer. The 21-year-old triplets live together in the same house and form a band called the Noise Next Door. But who can tell them apart? Even their mum sometimes has difficulty. Finally, when the triplets' brain activity is monitored, as well as their heart rates and other physical signs, how emotionally alike are they, and could they communicate in a way no other humans can? Experts including world triplet expert Prof. Nancy Segal, psychologists and brain activity specialists see if identical triplets really can communicate by other, unknown means - in an experiment on the Sutton boys which has some unexpected results. Identical Triplets: Their Secret World is a Hart Davies TV Production for ITV1 and is produced and directed by Stephen Finnigan. Monday, 23 June 2008, 9:00PM - 10:00PM
Identical Triplets: Their Secret World journeys into the world of the identical triplet to find out what's unique about nature's own remarkable clones. Aside from their looks, just how similar are identical triplets in other ways? We meet four sets of triplets, and through stunts, tests and investigation learn about intense competition, extreme sibling rivalry, and whether nature or nurture has shaped their personalities and desires. And in an extraordinary experiment with one set of triplets, we explore how in tune their emotions are to see whether identical triplets could possibly share a sixth sense, or even Extra Sensory Perception, which allows them to secretly communicate. Meet some experts - Doris, Gladys and Alice, all aged 80 – Britain's oldest set of identical triplets. So who's the boss? The Suttons boys - Ed, Craig and Scott - couldn't be closer. The 21-year-old triplets live together in the same house and form a band called the Noise Next Door. But who can tell them apart? Even their mum sometimes has difficulty. And the Elvin girls from Edinburgh: Lorna, Leanne and Lindsey. When these girls are getting ready to party it's every triplet for herself. Blonde, tall and stunning, the Humphris triplets Anne, Libby and Katy (22) have always attracted attention. When they were 18 they were spotted at the Clothes Show and snapped up for a career in modelling. Now the girls are getting used to living independent lives, though separation of the threesome is still an emotional event. The Elvin girls and Sutton boys take part in a fun first experiment: can the triplets outfox photographers who believe they're actually shooting one person when there are three of them? Next a series of physical tests explore how the two sets of triplets fare competing physically against each other. And as Katy Humphris goes travelling for an extended period, we hear what it's like to be separated from her identical two sisters. And do they fancy the same people? Identical Triplets: Their Secret World compares the triplets' body language on a series of speed dates before setting up the ultimate prank by a set of triplets on another set of triplets – a date that swaps the Elvin and Sutton triplets around without each other knowing.
The Suttons boys - Ed, Craig and Scott - couldn't be closer. The 21-year-old triplets live together in the same house and form a band called the Noise Next Door. But who can tell them apart? Even their mum sometimes has difficulty. Finally, when the triplets' brain activity is monitored, as well as their heart rates and other physical signs, how emotionally alike are they, and could they communicate in a way no other humans can? Experts including world triplet expert Prof. Nancy Segal, psychologists and brain activity specialists see if identical triplets really can communicate by other, unknown means - in an experiment on the Sutton boys which has some unexpected results. Identical Triplets: Their Secret World is a Hart Davies TV Production for ITV1 and is produced and directed by Stephen Finnigan. Monday, 23 June 2008, 9:00PM - 10:00PM
Sunday, 15 June 2008
telegraph.co.uk - IVF 30 years on
When the first test-tube baby was born, it wasn't just the beginning of a new life but of a whole new approach to infertility. Olga Craig talks to some winners and losers in the IVF lottery and asks where do we go from here?
A single word, splashed across the front page of a national newspaper, said it all: superbabe! In a photograph below, swathed in a soft blanket, was the baby whose birth had healed the heartache of her childless parents and brought hope to millions of infertile women: Louise Joy Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, who was born in Oldham General Hospital minutes before midnight on July 25 1978.
The IVF lottery is an emotional experience
Delivered by caesarean section and weighing just 5lb 12oz, little Louise was the daughter of John and Lesley Brown, a Manchester couple. She was conceived by in vitro fertilisation, during which her mother's eggs were fertilised by her father's sperm in a test tube and she became, to her parents' delight, the first child to be born using the procedure pioneered by the British fertility experts Robert Edwards and the late Patrick Steptoe.
As she proudly showed off her day-old daughter, Mrs Brown, who, at 29, had endured nine anguished years trying to conceive naturally, described her as her 'cherished little angel'.
'Louise is, truly, a gift from God,' she told assembled television reporters, her voice breaking with emotion. 'Every woman who has yearned to hold her own child in her arms, and then been flooded with the love that only motherhood brings when that longed for dream comes true, will understand what I mean.'
Next month Louise, now herself the mother of a lively two-year-old, Cameron, who was conceived naturally, will celebrate her 30th birthday. She and husband, Wesley, live quietly in Bristol where they will hold a family birthday party. Guest of honour is likely to be Prof Edwards, the man who, all those years ago, made the dramatic breakthrough that has, for millions of women worldwide, ended the prolonged and crushing misery of childlessness. For Edwards it will be a momentous occasion.
'I'm extremely proud to have been involved in Louise's birth,' he says. 'In my many years working in this field I have seen the devastating effect infertility has on the lives of sufferers.'
Prof Edwards knows all too well, and at first hand, the misery these couples endure. In the 30 years since Louise's birth IVF has become increasingly widely available. In the mid-1980s, as doctors honed and refined their techniques, more and more couples opted for fertility treatment. By the mid-1990s about 3,000 babies were being born annually in Britain thanks to IVF.
Today that figure has more than doubled. Currently, some 8,000 babies are born annually to the 30,000 British women who opt for IVF, with the infants now making up one per cent of our annual births. While IVF's success rate is still reasonably low - even for those under 35 it is only 28 per cent - and while those who do go on to have healthy babies are likely to have undergone numerous cycles of IVF before becoming pregnant, for the three and a half million women in Britain who currently have trouble conceiving its existence can prove to be nothing short of miraculous.
We have all heard the happy-ever-after stories of countless women for whom IVF has made motherhood a possibility. But what few women realise is that IVF treatment has become increasingly aggressive: so much so that there are very real risks involved.
Take the case of Temilola Akinbolagbe. Just two days after she began fertility treatment she suffered a massive heart attack at a south London Tube station. She was rushed to hospital where, five days later, her life-support machine was switched off. She had been a healthy young woman who had simply yearned for a child. But her body reacted fatally to the drugs she was given to stimulate her ovaries.
Dr Geeta Nargund offers 'soft' IVF
Granted, such deaths are rare but the fact is that they do happen. And, worryingly, up to 10 per cent of women, particularly those under 35, react badly to the hormonal drugs they are given. They are used initially to shut down the reproductive system and then to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs instead of a single one, which can then be surgically collected and fertilised with the father's sperm.
Back in 1978, when Steptoe and Edwards carried out the treatment that led to Louise's birth, IVF was very different to the aggressive form in use today. They waited until one of her mother's eggs had ripened, collected it and then fertilised it in a test tube with her husband's sperm before replacing it in the womb.
But in the past two decades the liberal use of drugs and the practice of returning multiple embryos to the womb has been the norm in Britain. All that, however, may be about to change. At a fertility conference in London last month a revolutionary new form of IVF, which involves fewer drugs - thus reducing drastically the side effects - was hailed as the future for IVF. Known as 'soft' or 'mild' IVF, it interferes much less with the body's natural chemistry.
It involves only low drug dosages, and just one, single healthy embryo is replaced: thus it removes the risk of unpleasant side effects and the danger of multiple pregnancies. Who, for example, can forget the premature birth and subsequent death of Mandy Allwood's eight babies in 1996. Allwood, who decided against selectively aborting some of the babies created with fertility treatment, went into labour at just 19 weeks and lost all of them.
While many leading experts acknowledge certain advantages to the mild treatment, they stress that, with women leaving motherhood later and later, the majority come to clinics clamouring for the most aggressive treatment to increase their chances of conceiving swiftly. 'The couples we see have been using contraceptives for years and believed the woman would get pregnant within weeks of coming off the pill,' says one. 'Now in their late thirties they are experiencing problems. Thus they want to maximise their chances of a child in as short a time as possible.'
For those like Prof Bart Fauser, the head of reproductive medicine at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht in the Netherlands, however, there are more important issues, namely safety. He believes the mild option is generally safer and as successful. Consequently, he has been urging the use of mild IVF for the past three years.
In a study three years ago Prof Fauser compared the outcomes for 200 women given mild IVF and a single embryo transfer with those of 200 women who had the conventional regime and two embryos put back in the womb. Those having the mild version were given four shorter treatments, while the others had three.
Over the course of a year 45 per cent of both groups ended up with a healthy child. 'The evidence indicates that this mild approach significantly reduces risks,' he says. 'And we have shown that it is just as successful. Compared with the traditional method we had the same birth rate.'
Since almost 80 per cent of women seeking fertility treatment do so at private, and highly expensive, clinics it seems surprising then that more clinics do not opt for the mild version. The traditional mindset seems to be that more drugs mean more embryos put back in the womb - resulting in more babies and higher places in the league tables compiled by the regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
Prof Fauser believes the reality is that the huge costs charged (a single cycle of IVF costs about £3,000) has meant that there is fierce competition among the clinics. 'With all the commercial pressure and all the money involved,' he says, 'it is easy to understand. But it is not to the benefit of the patient.' With all parties desperate for results, the tendency has been to use more drugs to produce more eggs and, hopefully, more babies. Thus IVF has become a multi-million-pound industry.
A quick perusal of the finances involved speaks volumes. Last month the fact that London's most high-profile fertility doctor, Mohamed Taranissi, made £8 million in the past year was headline news. His London practice quadrupled its profits in just six years. According to its most recent accounts the company made a pre-tax profit of almost £8 million - based on charging £2,500 for a single round of treatment - and has £20 million in the bank. Mr Taranissi is far from alone. An investigation by the London Evening Standard newspaper in May revealed that quite a few fertility doctors have become millionaires.
It is cold comfort for the women desperate to conceive. As Prof Fauser points out, since the mild version is much cheaper (about £1,500) couples can afford more rounds of treatment. And because it is less severe on the body fewer women drop out after a single failed attempt. 'With the more aggressive treatment women give up because they have suffered so much,' he says.
In Britain Dr Geeta Nargund, the head of reproductive medicine at St George's Hospital in London and medical director of Create, a private clinic, is one of just a handful of doctors who offer the new treatment. 'It's safer for women to use no drugs or fewer drugs to achieve a pregnancy,' she says. 'It is safer for her own health, her eggs and any embryos that are created. Being a woman, I feel strongly that we should look after women's health. The single most serious complication of IVF cycles is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can be avoided by using mild IVF.
'I don't come from a rich family myself and I work in south London where I see a lot of couples who don't have much money and who go to the private sector,' she says. 'We have really got to stop that.'
Dr Nargund believes that mild IVF is particularly good for older mothers, who produce few eggs whatever the treatment, so subjecting them to high doses of drugs is pointless and more likely to compromise the result.
Siobhan McLernon, 40, and her fiancé, Shaun, 43, were among the couples who opted for mild IVF at the Create clinic. When McLernon discovered her fallopian tubes were blocked she initially sought help from the NHS. Shocked to discover she faced a two-year waiting list, she decided that, at their age, that was time she and Shaun didn't have.
'The minute I heard about mild IVF I knew it was right for me,' she says. 'I didn't want to pump myself full of hormones and we also couldn't afford the £8,000 some clinics charge. Soft IVF felt like a lifeline. The process was simple. After some blood tests to check my hormone levels, I began a seven-day course of injections and didn't experience any side effects. By the second week I was convinced it hadn't worked. So when the pregnancy test was positive I couldn't believe it. I was the happiest person.'
Nine months later the couple were the delighted parents of a baby daughter, Cara-Mae. 'I just can't imagine life without her. She is an amazing gift,' she says. 'I would definitely recommend soft IVF. If we had chosen a more expensive option, we would have been under more pressure and it would have been more stressful.'
Those who support mild IVF have a firm supporter in Prof Edwards. He has never been in favour of massive doses of drugs. Even when he began working on the treatment in the early 1970s he was worried, he says, about the effect on a woman's body of hormonal drugs on top of the hormone surge that comes with ovulation. 'In those early days we were experimenting,' he says. 'We would use the lowest hormone doses we could and get four or five beautiful, ripe eggs. We always thought that was enough for one time.'
Prof Bill Ledger of Sheffield University, who heads the assisted conception unit at the NHS Royal Hallamshire hospital, worked with Prof Edwards in the late 1980s. 'If we got anybody pregnant, we all went to the pub, including the woman, her partner and the nurses - because it was a very precious thing in those days,' he says. 'The availability of IVF doctors to help people has become so much better. So now we can start looking a bit harder at safety. It is much safer for women to have mild IVF. And safer for the baby, too.'
But while more and more clinics are considering offering the option of the new treatment, not all fertility experts are convinced. Adrian Lower, a consultant gynaecologist at Barts in London who is also medical director of the Isis fertility centre in Colchester, has yet to be persuaded, although he does agree that mild IVF may be better for older women. And his argument is a powerful one in the light of the desperation felt by some infertile women.
'The fundamental problem in this country at the moment is that we feel a responsibility to the patients, most of whom are paying for treatment themselves, to give them the best chance of success. It seems the best chance of getting pregnant is having drugs.'
'IVF worked for us' Natalie Viking, 33, is a finance director. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, Steve, 34, a chef, and their daughter, Lucie, one
Steve had always worried he might be infertile because he's a chef - it's common among male chefs due to the heat of the kitchen. So when we hadn't conceived after six months we went to the doctor. Tests revealed that Steve had a low sperm count and that I had polycystic ovaries. I spent six months taking fertility drugs and, when they didn't work, we paid for a private cycle of IVF. The night after my treatment I woke up with a strange sense that it was working. Two weeks later I did a pregnancy test, and it was positive. The pregnancy went smoothly and Lucie was born a perfect little girl.
'We've given up trying for a baby' Clare Daynes, 44, works as a nursery-school assistant. She lives in Bedfordshire with her partner, Nick, 47, a civil servant
We didn't start trying for a baby until I was 35, and it was another three years before I tried drugs to stimulate ovulation. After 18 months without success, I found myself en route to IVF. I underwent five attempts and, after my fourth, I had counselling. My GP signed me off work for three months with depression. When I turned 42 I was running out of emotional energy and IVF had begun to feel like a punishment. We had one more attempt, which, in April 2007, also failed. I decided I had to make changes in my life. I left my job in television and found work as a nursery assistant. Being around children helps me to cope.
'We're still trying' Jess Lucas, 34, is a shop manager. She lives in Newcastle with her husband Peter, 36, who works in telecommunications
My husband's sperm are abnormally shaped and have poor motility. We started on IVF with the NHS two years ago, but after two failed attempts I had ICSI treatment [IVF in which one sperm is injected into one egg]. I produced 25 eggs, two of which were good enough to fertilise with Peter's sperm and implant into me. But within a fortnight we'd realised the embryos hadn't attached to the wall of my womb. We both cried. We've now turned to private treatment and plan on using £10,000 in savings on more attempts at ICSI. I don't want IVF to bleed us dry, financially or emotionally. The most important thing is to keep living our lives.
Case-study interviews by Natasha Courtenay-Smith. Some names have been changed.
A single word, splashed across the front page of a national newspaper, said it all: superbabe! In a photograph below, swathed in a soft blanket, was the baby whose birth had healed the heartache of her childless parents and brought hope to millions of infertile women: Louise Joy Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, who was born in Oldham General Hospital minutes before midnight on July 25 1978.
The IVF lottery is an emotional experience
Delivered by caesarean section and weighing just 5lb 12oz, little Louise was the daughter of John and Lesley Brown, a Manchester couple. She was conceived by in vitro fertilisation, during which her mother's eggs were fertilised by her father's sperm in a test tube and she became, to her parents' delight, the first child to be born using the procedure pioneered by the British fertility experts Robert Edwards and the late Patrick Steptoe.
As she proudly showed off her day-old daughter, Mrs Brown, who, at 29, had endured nine anguished years trying to conceive naturally, described her as her 'cherished little angel'.
'Louise is, truly, a gift from God,' she told assembled television reporters, her voice breaking with emotion. 'Every woman who has yearned to hold her own child in her arms, and then been flooded with the love that only motherhood brings when that longed for dream comes true, will understand what I mean.'
Next month Louise, now herself the mother of a lively two-year-old, Cameron, who was conceived naturally, will celebrate her 30th birthday. She and husband, Wesley, live quietly in Bristol where they will hold a family birthday party. Guest of honour is likely to be Prof Edwards, the man who, all those years ago, made the dramatic breakthrough that has, for millions of women worldwide, ended the prolonged and crushing misery of childlessness. For Edwards it will be a momentous occasion.
'I'm extremely proud to have been involved in Louise's birth,' he says. 'In my many years working in this field I have seen the devastating effect infertility has on the lives of sufferers.'
Prof Edwards knows all too well, and at first hand, the misery these couples endure. In the 30 years since Louise's birth IVF has become increasingly widely available. In the mid-1980s, as doctors honed and refined their techniques, more and more couples opted for fertility treatment. By the mid-1990s about 3,000 babies were being born annually in Britain thanks to IVF.
Today that figure has more than doubled. Currently, some 8,000 babies are born annually to the 30,000 British women who opt for IVF, with the infants now making up one per cent of our annual births. While IVF's success rate is still reasonably low - even for those under 35 it is only 28 per cent - and while those who do go on to have healthy babies are likely to have undergone numerous cycles of IVF before becoming pregnant, for the three and a half million women in Britain who currently have trouble conceiving its existence can prove to be nothing short of miraculous.
We have all heard the happy-ever-after stories of countless women for whom IVF has made motherhood a possibility. But what few women realise is that IVF treatment has become increasingly aggressive: so much so that there are very real risks involved.
Take the case of Temilola Akinbolagbe. Just two days after she began fertility treatment she suffered a massive heart attack at a south London Tube station. She was rushed to hospital where, five days later, her life-support machine was switched off. She had been a healthy young woman who had simply yearned for a child. But her body reacted fatally to the drugs she was given to stimulate her ovaries.
Dr Geeta Nargund offers 'soft' IVF
Granted, such deaths are rare but the fact is that they do happen. And, worryingly, up to 10 per cent of women, particularly those under 35, react badly to the hormonal drugs they are given. They are used initially to shut down the reproductive system and then to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs instead of a single one, which can then be surgically collected and fertilised with the father's sperm.
Back in 1978, when Steptoe and Edwards carried out the treatment that led to Louise's birth, IVF was very different to the aggressive form in use today. They waited until one of her mother's eggs had ripened, collected it and then fertilised it in a test tube with her husband's sperm before replacing it in the womb.
But in the past two decades the liberal use of drugs and the practice of returning multiple embryos to the womb has been the norm in Britain. All that, however, may be about to change. At a fertility conference in London last month a revolutionary new form of IVF, which involves fewer drugs - thus reducing drastically the side effects - was hailed as the future for IVF. Known as 'soft' or 'mild' IVF, it interferes much less with the body's natural chemistry.
It involves only low drug dosages, and just one, single healthy embryo is replaced: thus it removes the risk of unpleasant side effects and the danger of multiple pregnancies. Who, for example, can forget the premature birth and subsequent death of Mandy Allwood's eight babies in 1996. Allwood, who decided against selectively aborting some of the babies created with fertility treatment, went into labour at just 19 weeks and lost all of them.
While many leading experts acknowledge certain advantages to the mild treatment, they stress that, with women leaving motherhood later and later, the majority come to clinics clamouring for the most aggressive treatment to increase their chances of conceiving swiftly. 'The couples we see have been using contraceptives for years and believed the woman would get pregnant within weeks of coming off the pill,' says one. 'Now in their late thirties they are experiencing problems. Thus they want to maximise their chances of a child in as short a time as possible.'
For those like Prof Bart Fauser, the head of reproductive medicine at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht in the Netherlands, however, there are more important issues, namely safety. He believes the mild option is generally safer and as successful. Consequently, he has been urging the use of mild IVF for the past three years.
In a study three years ago Prof Fauser compared the outcomes for 200 women given mild IVF and a single embryo transfer with those of 200 women who had the conventional regime and two embryos put back in the womb. Those having the mild version were given four shorter treatments, while the others had three.
Over the course of a year 45 per cent of both groups ended up with a healthy child. 'The evidence indicates that this mild approach significantly reduces risks,' he says. 'And we have shown that it is just as successful. Compared with the traditional method we had the same birth rate.'
Since almost 80 per cent of women seeking fertility treatment do so at private, and highly expensive, clinics it seems surprising then that more clinics do not opt for the mild version. The traditional mindset seems to be that more drugs mean more embryos put back in the womb - resulting in more babies and higher places in the league tables compiled by the regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
Prof Fauser believes the reality is that the huge costs charged (a single cycle of IVF costs about £3,000) has meant that there is fierce competition among the clinics. 'With all the commercial pressure and all the money involved,' he says, 'it is easy to understand. But it is not to the benefit of the patient.' With all parties desperate for results, the tendency has been to use more drugs to produce more eggs and, hopefully, more babies. Thus IVF has become a multi-million-pound industry.
A quick perusal of the finances involved speaks volumes. Last month the fact that London's most high-profile fertility doctor, Mohamed Taranissi, made £8 million in the past year was headline news. His London practice quadrupled its profits in just six years. According to its most recent accounts the company made a pre-tax profit of almost £8 million - based on charging £2,500 for a single round of treatment - and has £20 million in the bank. Mr Taranissi is far from alone. An investigation by the London Evening Standard newspaper in May revealed that quite a few fertility doctors have become millionaires.
It is cold comfort for the women desperate to conceive. As Prof Fauser points out, since the mild version is much cheaper (about £1,500) couples can afford more rounds of treatment. And because it is less severe on the body fewer women drop out after a single failed attempt. 'With the more aggressive treatment women give up because they have suffered so much,' he says.
In Britain Dr Geeta Nargund, the head of reproductive medicine at St George's Hospital in London and medical director of Create, a private clinic, is one of just a handful of doctors who offer the new treatment. 'It's safer for women to use no drugs or fewer drugs to achieve a pregnancy,' she says. 'It is safer for her own health, her eggs and any embryos that are created. Being a woman, I feel strongly that we should look after women's health. The single most serious complication of IVF cycles is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can be avoided by using mild IVF.
'I don't come from a rich family myself and I work in south London where I see a lot of couples who don't have much money and who go to the private sector,' she says. 'We have really got to stop that.'
Dr Nargund believes that mild IVF is particularly good for older mothers, who produce few eggs whatever the treatment, so subjecting them to high doses of drugs is pointless and more likely to compromise the result.
Siobhan McLernon, 40, and her fiancé, Shaun, 43, were among the couples who opted for mild IVF at the Create clinic. When McLernon discovered her fallopian tubes were blocked she initially sought help from the NHS. Shocked to discover she faced a two-year waiting list, she decided that, at their age, that was time she and Shaun didn't have.
'The minute I heard about mild IVF I knew it was right for me,' she says. 'I didn't want to pump myself full of hormones and we also couldn't afford the £8,000 some clinics charge. Soft IVF felt like a lifeline. The process was simple. After some blood tests to check my hormone levels, I began a seven-day course of injections and didn't experience any side effects. By the second week I was convinced it hadn't worked. So when the pregnancy test was positive I couldn't believe it. I was the happiest person.'
Nine months later the couple were the delighted parents of a baby daughter, Cara-Mae. 'I just can't imagine life without her. She is an amazing gift,' she says. 'I would definitely recommend soft IVF. If we had chosen a more expensive option, we would have been under more pressure and it would have been more stressful.'
Those who support mild IVF have a firm supporter in Prof Edwards. He has never been in favour of massive doses of drugs. Even when he began working on the treatment in the early 1970s he was worried, he says, about the effect on a woman's body of hormonal drugs on top of the hormone surge that comes with ovulation. 'In those early days we were experimenting,' he says. 'We would use the lowest hormone doses we could and get four or five beautiful, ripe eggs. We always thought that was enough for one time.'
Prof Bill Ledger of Sheffield University, who heads the assisted conception unit at the NHS Royal Hallamshire hospital, worked with Prof Edwards in the late 1980s. 'If we got anybody pregnant, we all went to the pub, including the woman, her partner and the nurses - because it was a very precious thing in those days,' he says. 'The availability of IVF doctors to help people has become so much better. So now we can start looking a bit harder at safety. It is much safer for women to have mild IVF. And safer for the baby, too.'
But while more and more clinics are considering offering the option of the new treatment, not all fertility experts are convinced. Adrian Lower, a consultant gynaecologist at Barts in London who is also medical director of the Isis fertility centre in Colchester, has yet to be persuaded, although he does agree that mild IVF may be better for older women. And his argument is a powerful one in the light of the desperation felt by some infertile women.
'The fundamental problem in this country at the moment is that we feel a responsibility to the patients, most of whom are paying for treatment themselves, to give them the best chance of success. It seems the best chance of getting pregnant is having drugs.'
'IVF worked for us' Natalie Viking, 33, is a finance director. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, Steve, 34, a chef, and their daughter, Lucie, one
Steve had always worried he might be infertile because he's a chef - it's common among male chefs due to the heat of the kitchen. So when we hadn't conceived after six months we went to the doctor. Tests revealed that Steve had a low sperm count and that I had polycystic ovaries. I spent six months taking fertility drugs and, when they didn't work, we paid for a private cycle of IVF. The night after my treatment I woke up with a strange sense that it was working. Two weeks later I did a pregnancy test, and it was positive. The pregnancy went smoothly and Lucie was born a perfect little girl.
'We've given up trying for a baby' Clare Daynes, 44, works as a nursery-school assistant. She lives in Bedfordshire with her partner, Nick, 47, a civil servant
We didn't start trying for a baby until I was 35, and it was another three years before I tried drugs to stimulate ovulation. After 18 months without success, I found myself en route to IVF. I underwent five attempts and, after my fourth, I had counselling. My GP signed me off work for three months with depression. When I turned 42 I was running out of emotional energy and IVF had begun to feel like a punishment. We had one more attempt, which, in April 2007, also failed. I decided I had to make changes in my life. I left my job in television and found work as a nursery assistant. Being around children helps me to cope.
'We're still trying' Jess Lucas, 34, is a shop manager. She lives in Newcastle with her husband Peter, 36, who works in telecommunications
My husband's sperm are abnormally shaped and have poor motility. We started on IVF with the NHS two years ago, but after two failed attempts I had ICSI treatment [IVF in which one sperm is injected into one egg]. I produced 25 eggs, two of which were good enough to fertilise with Peter's sperm and implant into me. But within a fortnight we'd realised the embryos hadn't attached to the wall of my womb. We both cried. We've now turned to private treatment and plan on using £10,000 in savings on more attempts at ICSI. I don't want IVF to bleed us dry, financially or emotionally. The most important thing is to keep living our lives.
Case-study interviews by Natasha Courtenay-Smith. Some names have been changed.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Buxton Advertiser - Expectant quadruplet couple 'not trying for baby'
A Plymouth couple who are to have quadruplets have said they were not even trying for a baby.
Emma and Michael Wing said they will attempt to keep all four of the quads despite the higher risks involved.They were offered "selective reduction" by the hospital, a procedure where one or more of the foetuses are removed to increase the chance
s of the others surviving, but turned it down as there was a chance it could result in a total miscarriage.Mr Wing said if the babies were not born by 34 weeks, the average gestation for a single baby is 40, then they would be born by Caesarian section.The 22-year-old soldier, who serves with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, said: "We weren't actually trying for a baby but didn't mind if one came along."We've been told there is a one in 700,000 chance of having quads, we should have played the lottery instead."The couple already have two sons, 10-month-old Callum and three-year-old Mason.Mrs Wing admitted she is nervous about carrying four babies and is expecting a difficult pregnancy.The 23-year-old is 12 weeks pregnant and said she wanted to let "nature take its course" despite already suffering severe morning sickness, headaches and stomach pains."It was quite scary to find out that I was expecting quads," she said. "I'll probably be bedridden by the end because I am quite slim and small and it would be too much strain for me to carry."
Emma and Michael Wing said they will attempt to keep all four of the quads despite the higher risks involved.They were offered "selective reduction" by the hospital, a procedure where one or more of the foetuses are removed to increase the chance
s of the others surviving, but turned it down as there was a chance it could result in a total miscarriage.Mr Wing said if the babies were not born by 34 weeks, the average gestation for a single baby is 40, then they would be born by Caesarian section.The 22-year-old soldier, who serves with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, said: "We weren't actually trying for a baby but didn't mind if one came along."We've been told there is a one in 700,000 chance of having quads, we should have played the lottery instead."The couple already have two sons, 10-month-old Callum and three-year-old Mason.Mrs Wing admitted she is nervous about carrying four babies and is expecting a difficult pregnancy.The 23-year-old is 12 weeks pregnant and said she wanted to let "nature take its course" despite already suffering severe morning sickness, headaches and stomach pains."It was quite scary to find out that I was expecting quads," she said. "I'll probably be bedridden by the end because I am quite slim and small and it would be too much strain for me to carry."
Medwaymessenger - Mum’s fight over twins' school dilemma
It's double trouble for the mother of twin boys who are due to start primary school.
When Samantha Terry filled out the school admissions form she listed Wainscott as her first choice and Hilltop as her second for sons Brad and Connor.
But Medway Council placed Brad at Hilltop and Connor at Wainscott. It means Brad will start school in September and Connor in January.
Samantha, a single, working mother from Cliffe Road, Strood, says the situation is causing her a headache.
As a result she is appealing for a place at Wainscott for Brad.
She said:“Both of them will start school at 8.50am.
"I can’t leave one four-year-old in the playground while I take the other to school or do the same thing when I pick them up.
“It means one is always going to be late starting school and being picked up.
“I was told by someone in Medway Council’s admissions team that it doesn’t state anywhere that twins have to go to the same school but, as I pointed out to them, neither does it say they might be split up.
“There is nowhere on the form to indicate your child is a twin.
“I’ve appealed for a place at Wainscott for Brad and it will go before a panel in June, but if Brad doesn’t get a place I may have no other choice but to leave Connor at Wainscott and teach Brad at home.”
Medway Council defends decision
“The 30 places at the parent’s first choice of school were filled in line with the published over-subscription criteria, which gives priority to those children with older siblings already at the school, and to those who live closest.
“Miss Terry’s children were 30th and 31st in this list. “Consequently one child was offered a place at her second choice school.
“To do otherwise would have denied another child with a right to a place at one of these schools.
“The circumstances are extremely rare, and changing the application form to indicate twins or multiple births would not have prevented the same outcome.
“Miss Terry is appealing for a second place at Wainscott and she could additionally appeal for a second place at Hilltop.
“A further alternative is that places for both boys could be offered at one of a number of schools in the area which have available spaces.”
When Samantha Terry filled out the school admissions form she listed Wainscott as her first choice and Hilltop as her second for sons Brad and Connor.
But Medway Council placed Brad at Hilltop and Connor at Wainscott. It means Brad will start school in September and Connor in January.
Samantha, a single, working mother from Cliffe Road, Strood, says the situation is causing her a headache.
As a result she is appealing for a place at Wainscott for Brad.
She said:“Both of them will start school at 8.50am.
"I can’t leave one four-year-old in the playground while I take the other to school or do the same thing when I pick them up.
“It means one is always going to be late starting school and being picked up.
“I was told by someone in Medway Council’s admissions team that it doesn’t state anywhere that twins have to go to the same school but, as I pointed out to them, neither does it say they might be split up.
“There is nowhere on the form to indicate your child is a twin.
“I’ve appealed for a place at Wainscott for Brad and it will go before a panel in June, but if Brad doesn’t get a place I may have no other choice but to leave Connor at Wainscott and teach Brad at home.”
Medway Council defends decision
“The 30 places at the parent’s first choice of school were filled in line with the published over-subscription criteria, which gives priority to those children with older siblings already at the school, and to those who live closest.
“Miss Terry’s children were 30th and 31st in this list. “Consequently one child was offered a place at her second choice school.
“To do otherwise would have denied another child with a right to a place at one of these schools.
“The circumstances are extremely rare, and changing the application form to indicate twins or multiple births would not have prevented the same outcome.
“Miss Terry is appealing for a second place at Wainscott and she could additionally appeal for a second place at Hilltop.
“A further alternative is that places for both boys could be offered at one of a number of schools in the area which have available spaces.”
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