Reproductive Partners Fertility Blog » eSET

Big surprise: The incidence of twins is up

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:48:59 +0000

An analysis of three decades of twin births (2009 data are the most recent year included) finds large increases in twin birth rates for all age groups, among all racial and ethnic groups and in the U. S. The overall U.S. twin birth rate increased 76%, from 18.9 in 1980 to 33.2 per 1,000 births in 2009.

And for …

Another factor in selecting single embryo transfer (eSET)

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:52:00 +0000

This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.

There are many reasons that the …

Does IVF increase the chance of identical (monozygotic) twins?

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:06:50 +0000

It does, at least according to a study in the July 2010 issue of Fertility & Sterility.

The authors surveyed 4976 clinical pregnancies from one large IVF center and found ninety-eight cases of monozygotic twins (MZTs) were diagnosed after first-trimester ultrasound evaluation (2% incidence). In naturally conceived pregnancies the incidence is about 0.25-0.5%.

The incidence in women transfering embryos from …

Announcing the Elective Single Embryo Transfer (eSET) Encouragement Program

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:35:42 +0000

Reproductive Partners Medical Group has created the Elective Single Embryo Transfer (eSET) Encouragement Program to provide a financial incentive for patients with good embryo quality and a good prognosis for success to consider reducing the chance of twins by transferring a single embryo.

Reducing the number of multiple pregnancies, even twin pregnancies, is one of the biggest issues in advanced …

RPMG studying financial incentives for eSET

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:59:58 +0000

The LA Times article mentioned in the previous post shows the non-signficant difference in success rates between single- and double embryo transfers in a study from Sweden. Most impressive is the reduction in potentially complicated multiple pregnancies by transferring one embryo which should be an incentive for appropriate couples to select this option.

But in most of the U. S., …

LA Times article promotes single embryo transfer

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:57:32 +0000

An article in the October 29th edition of the Los Angeles Times, “1 in vitro embryo may be best” reports on data from the New England Journal of Medicine that shows by transferring more than one embryo doctors are increasing the odds of having twins, creating a riskier pregnancy for both mother and baby.

Increased risks of twins over a single IVF baby …

Preventing IVF Twin Pregnancies

Dr. Arthur Wisot FACOG — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:08:02 +0000

An article in the October 11th edition of the New York Times, “Grievous Choice on Risky Path to Parenthood,” has created an avalanche of comments on blogs on the controversial topic of mandating limits on numbers of embryos transferred. The article cites the obvious: that multiple pregnancies are more hazardous than singletons. We all know that. But this …