First test tube baby to give birth
Louise Brown, the world's first 'test-tube' baby, is herself to give birth, almost 28 years after her own groundbreaking arrival. Ms Brown's baby, expected in January 2007, will be born without IVF technology. Louise's birth was made possible because her mother Lesley had blocked fallopian tubes, making normal conception impossible. Since Louise Brown's birth to Lesley and John Brown in Oldham, UK, on 25 July 1978, more than three million IVF (In-Vitro Fertilisation) babies have been born. Daughter Louise had been trying to conceive for two years since marrying in September 2004, leading some to speculate that her mother's blocked tubes may be hereditary. The fact that Louise's pregnancy is normal answers one of many questions posed at the time of the birth around the morality and safety of such a procedure. While most babies are born to excited family members, the Browns had the additional presence of the world's media, and an intense debate about the validity and ethics of the procedure. The real issues come down to how the embryos were formed - in the lab, not using 'natural' methods, and how unused embryos were disposed of - could this be another form of abortion? The Catholic faith in particular has objected to IVF treatment. Further queries centred on natural selection - would an IVF baby be the 'best' choice or the choice that nature would otherwise have made? But people have reacted with their feet. Louise's birth prompted an explosion in demand for IVF treatment, and today it is a routine procedure for the specialists, but not of course for the parents. In Denmark up to 4 per cent of all live births follow IVF procedures. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards developed the procedure at Oldham General Hospital in greater Manchester, North-west England. Today, the procedure has been tweaked and improved, but is still essentially the same. The mother must firstly take fertility drugs to boost her production of eggs, and then to encourage ovulation of those eggs. While in a normal month a woman will release a single egg as part of the menstrual cycle, this process triggers the release of several eggs. A surgical procedure harvests the eggs just prior to ovulation. While this was initially a highly invasive operation, the technique has been refined considerably and can take as little as 20 minutes. A general anaesthetic is optional. The IVF part of the operation seems rather low-tech in comparison. The eggs are taken to the laboratory and mixed with sperm from the father in a special culture medium and then left alone. After some 18 hours, eggs should be fertilised and can be removed. In cases of low sperm count, sperm are injected directly into the egg, a process known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which remains somewhat more controversial that simple IVF. The candidate embryos are then assessed for quality, and the 'best' ones are implanted in the mother's womb. Sometimes several embryos can be transferred at once, to improve the chances of conception, but is also the reason why multiple births are not uncommon with IVF treatment. If the embryos have 'taken', then a normal pregnancy test will confirm the success. Sometime additional drugs will be administered to ensure menstruation does not start, which would eject the new embryos. Success is estimated to be between 20 and 30 per cent per cycle, although some clinics claim a 50 per cent success rate. Research around IVF children has found evidence both for and against an increased risk of birth defects. Some have suggested that the ICSI procedure carries more risk. While Lesley Brown elected to go through the procedure a second time, to produce a sister for Louise, Louise herself has relied on the traditional approach, and the pregnancy appears normal. 'This is a dream come true for both of us,' she said in a statement.
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