Why is natural cycle and modified natural cycle IVF safer?
- Reduced side effects
- Better long-term health outcomes for women, mothers and babies
- No risk of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS)
Natural cycle IVF works in synch with your menstrual cycle to collect the egg or eggs that your body has selected to mature. During treatment, our specialist doctors use advanced ultrasound technology to monitor your cycle and check the blood supply to the developing follicle to monitor its quality.
Just like conventional IVF, we then introduce the sperm to the egg in a petri dish. Once fertilised, we transfer the single embryo to implant into your womb.
In modified natural IVF, again we work with your body to collect the eggs it has naturally selected. We prescribe medication in the form of tablets or injections for just three or four days before we collect your eggs.
Women tell us that with natural and modified natural treatment they feel much more in control. There is none of the artificial suppression (known as ‘down regulation’) used in conventional IVF to shut down the cycle, or the higher doses of drugs that conventional IVF relies on to stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs.
Conventional IVF: questions about long-term health outcomes
Our approach offers clear benefits for women with treatment that is more natural, safer, quicker, simpler and much gentler on the body.
The advantages of our approach aside, there is now considerable scientific evidence to suggest that there are questions about long-term health outcomes for both women and babies in conventional IVF. These are linked to the higher doses of drugs used in treatment. We know:
- embryos produced from IVF cycles with no stimulation or lower stimulation can be higher quality that those produced in conventional IVF
- a high proportion of embryos created in conventional IVF can have chromosomal abnormalities
- natural IVF yields naturally selected eggs with potentially less abnormalities, a healthier lining of the womb and more chance of the embryo implanting
- a 2017 study found that natural IVF could help reduce the risk of low birth weight babies born through IVF. The data indicates that natural IVF may increase the likelihood of babies going to term, and may change outcomes for those born early
- natural IVF eliminates the risk of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS) which in its severe form can potentially be fatal
- that if you are at high risk of developing an oestrogen related cancer because of family history or have endometriosis or other conditions (eg: melanoma or clotting problems) that would be made worse by ovarian stimulating drugs, natural cycle IVF would be beneficial to protect your health
- that the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 using IVF without the use of stimulating drugs and she has now had her own baby naturally
Ongoing advances in the technology and scanning techniques now available to fertility specialists mean clinics can use lower doses of medication. We believe that you have the right to choose treatment that impacts as minimally as possible on your body, while providing you with the reassurance of industry-standard success rates.
The truth at the heart of IVF is that to create a healthy baby you simply need one high quality egg and one high quality sperm to create one high quality embryo. Quality not quantity is the key, and for that, higher doses of medication are simply not necessary and may even be detrimental to the health of women and babies.
