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Health warning to women over fertility tourism
Reported September 19, 2008
The NHS is having to pick up the pieces of couples
travelling abroad for treatment where they often return pregnant with twins
or triplets.
Multiple pregnancies are the biggest risk of fertility treatment and the
chances of high blood pressure, admission to hospital, premature labour,
disabilities in the child and even death in mother or babies is higher.
In the UK fertility clinics are more likely to transfer one embryo at a time
which minimises the risk of twins or triplets but many women fear this could
harm their chances of success and actively seek treatment abroad where
doctors are more willing to transfer more embryos into the womb, despite the
risks.
New research presented on Friday at the Royal College of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists (RCOG) 7th International Scientific Meeting in Montreal has
looked at the impact of higher order multiple pregnancies (triplets or
above) within the NHS and the link with fertility treatment received
overseas.
The study, from the Fetal Medicine Unit at University College London
Hospital (UCLH), included 109 women with higher order multiple pregnancies
of which 15 had conceived naturally and 94 had received fertility treatment.
Of those who had fertility treatment, 25 per cent received it outside of the
UK.
The reasons for overseas treatment included the cost in
the UK, that the country was their home, a better success rate due to higher
number of embryo transfers overseas, faster speed of treatment and the
availability of an acceptable ethnic donor.
Dr Alastair McKelvey, Subspecialty Fellow in Materno-Fetal Medicine at
University College London Hospital and lead author of the study, said:
"Triplet, quadruplet and higher order multiple pregnancies are very
challenging high-risk pregnancies. We were concerned, through personal
experience, about the extent of this problem and its link to unregulated
fertility care on the world market.
"The information revolution and globalisation have radically changed many
aspects of life - including medicine and access to it.
"National regulatory bodies can be sidestepped by couples desperate for a
baby and the myriad of tempting offers of fertility treatments can lead them
to serious adverse consequences.
"This research suggests that international agreement on this aspect of
women's health - preferably by professionals - is needed."
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