IVF cost. For people who have been told they need In Vitro Fertilization to get pregnant, those two words are very scary indeed. Most people do not have insurance that covers IVF, which can cost more than $10,000, and very few people have options for paying for IVF. So when people are able to come up with the money to pay for the cost of IVF, it helps them to know that the money they are spending will be worthwhile and that they will achieve a pregnancy. A new study has revealed a potential breakthrough in the egg maturation process which could drastically improve the chances for IVF success.

IVF Cost Easier To Bear When IVF Success Chance Is High

The study performed by scientists at the University of Gothenburg uncovered a chemical which can help to initiate the maturation process in ova, a process which is critical to increasing IVF success rates. During the In Vitro Fertilization process, a woman’s eggs, or ova, are matured in greater numbers than a normal menstrual cycle using IVF medications. The purpose of developing a large number of eggs is to increase the chances that one or more will turn into viable embryos. The resulting embryos will then be implanted into the woman’s uterus, in an attempt to get her pregnant. The more mature eggs a woman produces, the better her chances are for IVF success.

The study investigated whether suppressing a molecule called PTEN, which was found by scientists to potentially inhibit the maturation of eggs, would increase the number of mature eggs. The results showed that PTEN inhibitor can trigger the growth of immature eggs. Although the study was performed with mouse eggs, the scientists are hopeful that the findings could be reproduced in human eggs. “This discovery demonstrates that there is a realistic chance of being able to use PTEN inhibitors to activate small eggs in a test tube,” says Kui Liu, professor at the University of Gothenburg’s Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology. “This technique is extremely valuable for those women who have only small eggs in their ovaries and cannot be helped by IVF as things stand,” says Kui Liu.

Every person going through IVF wants the outcome to be successful, but the pressure for IVF success is especially hard on those who cannot afford a second try. One of the worst possible outcomes for people who can barely afford the high IVF cost is for the IVF treatment to be unsuccessful. For those people, any news of improving the potential for IVF success is good news.

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