New study by the Assisted Reproductive Technology in Australia and New Zealand has shown that the success rate of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) depends on multiple circles. The study looked over 66 thousand women who did IVF. It shows that if 62 percent of the women had persevered, they would have had a baby from IVF, but because they did one circle that failed, they backed out. Reacting to the study, the Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, in an interview with LEADERSHIP said the most efficient method for treating infertility is IVF especially in an environment like ours where tubal factor and sperm count are the main problem. How do we assess IVF? Ajayi said, “When we talk about success rate of IVF, people want it to be about 80 per cent. When you tell couples 50 per cent, to them it is too poor, whereas in the normal circle , every month, a couple has 20 to 25 per cent chance of getting pregnant and that is in their peak reproductive age. So, if IVF can even give us 40 per cent, it is doing better than what nature can do.” The managing director said the success rate of IVF can increase if couples go for multiple circles. He said, “Many people don’t do enough circles in order to get the benefits of what IVF can deliver, especially when they had a failed circle, they just quickly drop out of IVF and this is due to the fact that it takes a toil on their finance and emotion. “If you are less than 35 years and you do one circle, your realistic success rate is about 35 to 40 per cent. But if you do three circles, your success rate goes up to about 75 per cent. So that is better than just doing one circle. “Now we know that the success of IVF is dependent on the age, so imagine if a woman at the age of 34 had a failed IVF, then she goes home for two years either to gather money or maybe she is not emotionally ready due to the fact that she is afraid of failure, she may be too old by the time she is ready.” Speaking on the cost of IVF, Ajayi said, “In Nigeria, we pay out of pocket and majority of Nigerians may not afford multiple circles, but one of the ways we have encouraged them is to have packages that they can afford. Apart from reducing the price, we also provide emotional support and give couples enough information before they even start to let them know the success rate. “We also enlightened them that if the IVF fails, the best way to go about it is to embark on multiple circles.The more the circles that they do, the more the chances that they are going to succeed.“
