Telegraph - Two cycles of fertility treatment significantly increase chances of pregnancy

Receiving two cycles of fertility treatment can substantially increase a woman's chances of becoming pregnant, a new study shows.
The research will add to increasing pressure for women to receive more cycles of IVF on the NHS.
Most women in Britain are offered only one cycle by their local Primary Care Trust, despite a call from Patricia Hewitt, when she was Health Secretary, for all women to be offered three.
The new study showed that almost all women who would have become pregnant through a type of IVF, used in an estimated 40 per cent of cycles in Britain, did so on the first or second attempt.
A study of more than 6,700 patients shows that almost 80 per cent became pregnant on the first attempt with another 16 per cent on the second attempt.
Only 3.4 per cent of women became pregnant with their third cycle of treatment and less than one per cent on the fourth or fifth cycle.
There were no successful pregnancies beyond the fifth attempt, accordong the findings presented on Tuesday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Eshre) in Barcelona.
The technique studied was intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a treatment for male infertility which has been used since the early nineties.
The technique involves injecting an egg in a laboratory with an individual sperm.
It is used in an estimated 40 per cent of the 41,000 IVF cycles performed in Britain every year.
Simon Hong, from the Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Cornell University in America said: "From our findings it appears that younger women undergoing two ART (assisted reproductive technique) attempts benefit from the highest chances of pregnancy."
Another study also presented at Eshre shows that using frozen instead of fresh embryos produces healthier babies.
Infants born from embryos which were frozen and then thawed before being implanted into a woman had a higher birth weight and were less likely to suffer abnormalities.
Fewer of the children were also twins or triplets.
Multiple births are known to increase the risk of complications as well as the danger to the mother.