Frozen embryo baby gives hope to couples

EVIE Bloomer has become the first child to be born in the UK using a pioneering technique to freeze embryos.

She was born on 23 July after her parents' first attempt at in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment failed.

But the couple, who had been trying for a baby since 2001, were offered hope when doctors suggested they try embryo vitrification, a new process in which embryos are frozen rapidly, allowing a much greater proportion of them to survive.

It differs from traditional cooling and storing techniques as the cells solidify instantly, without the formation of ice crystals which can damage embryos as they are thawed.

Conventional methods see between 50 and 80 per cent of embryos remain viable after being cryogenically stored.

However, the IVF team at Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust has achieved a 98 per cent success rate by using the vitrification technique.

The work is being led by Lyndon Miles, head of embryology and andrology for IVF Wales at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, where the treatment took place.

Dr Miles practiced the technique while he was an embryologist at Harvard Medical School in the United States and is to present the results of his work at the British Fertility Society Conference in Liverpool next month.

He said: "Though this is a new technique for the UK, early results and publications in Japan and the US have been extremely encouraging."

Evie's parents, Ian and Rebecca, from Cwmbran, South Wales, went through IVF after tests showed Mrs Bloomer, 28, had endometriosis, a condition which was making it difficult for her to conceive.

After one failed attempt they were offered a new way of freezing unused embryos to give them a better chance of survival when they were ready to try again.

Mrs Bloomer became pregnant almost immediately using a vitrified embryo, and Evie was born in the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport weighing 7lb 10oz.

Mrs Bloomer said: "It's overwhelming. I'm still staring at her now thinking, 'Wow, she's ours – it's actually happened for us'.

"It's been a real emotional rollercoaster. But to have Evie now, you forget what you went through. It makes it all worthwhile."

Mr Bloomer, 32, a repair and maintenance engineer, said: "I still can't believe it. We waited so long and now she's here."

The University Hospital of Wales was the first in the UK to offer embryo vitrification last August. Of the first eight patients with vitrified embryos, seven had positive pregnancy tests following treatment.

Dr Miles said 17 out of the 39 women offered the treatment had conceived – more than doubling the unit's pregnancy rate compared to conventional methods. Four of those women are now expecting twins.

Vitrification can be used to freeze eggs for women with cancer whose treatment will render them infertile. It may also be used to allow women to delay motherhood by "banking" eggs while they are at peak fertility and use them after fertility has declined.

Mrs Bloomer added: "I hope that if anybody going through treatment sees us and Evie it gives them one last little bit of hope to go for it."

HOW IT WORKS

1 A three-day human embryo before the new IVF vitrification cycle begins

2 The embryo is then placed on a CryoLeaf suspended in fluid.

3 The embryo is rapidly cooled to a temperature of liquid nitrogen (-196C) and stored.

4 The next stage sees the vitrification process begin, which allows the solidification of the embryos with no ice crystals forming.

5 The fertilised embryo is then transferred back to the mother. Post-thaw survival rates reach 98 per cent, compared with 50 to 80 per cent via conventional methods, providing Rebecca and Ian Bloom with their new baby girl, Evie.