'Desperate' IVF patients offered treatments with no proven fertility benefits

Many IVF patients would pay for costly extra treatments to increase chances of pregnancy, but new research find many aren't effective.

Many IVF patients would pay for expensive extra treatments to increase chances of a successful pregnancy.

In brief

• Only three out of 10 common IVF add-ons may benefit fertility, a study has found.
• The study's lead author has called for IVF clinics to offer more clarification.

Couples who hope to increase their fertility success by trialling in vitro fertilisation (IVF) add-ons may benefit little from the costly extra procedures, according to a new Australian-led study.

Researchers at the University of Melbourne have analysed data on the effectiveness of 10 of the most popular additional procedures and techniques in the IVF process.

Three common extra treatments were found to have weak evidence that they could increase chances of a successful pregnancy, including EmbryoGlue, endometrial scratching and physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

The remaining seven add-ons were found to have little to no evidence of benefit.

Those unproven add-ons include preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy, endometrial receptivity testing, corticosteroid use, platelet-rich plasma injection into the ovary, platelet-rich plasma infusion into the uterus, acupuncture and intralipid infusions.

Lead author Sarah Lensen said the findings challenge the widespread belief that additional treatments, such as intralipid infusion, improve outcomes.

This treatment involves injecting a liquid containing lipids — fats — into a patient's arm.

"If you look up 'intralipid' on Reddit, which is a popular social media platform for IVF patients … there's no shortage of posts among patients discussing intralipid," she said.

"And similarly for the platelet-rich plasma. Again, we didn't find any evidence of benefit."

Currently, there are more than 20 extra IVF procedures available in IVF clinics, often advertised as add-ons that could benefit pregnancy, including acupuncture, corticosteroid use and intralipid infusions, with prices ranging from $150 to $5,000.

IVF patients vulnerable to trying experimental treatments

In 2021, the research team partnered with the Victorian IVF regulator VARTA to survey 1,590 women who undergo IVF treatment. It found 82 per cent of them had used an additional treatment alongside their IVF procedures.

"[IVF patients] often speak about that desperation that they feel and how, to some extent, that can make them vulnerable to trying out experimental things," Lensen said.

"So there is a lot of hope circulating in this space, but I think the hope's also important for patients to keep them going so they do try another IVF cycle if they have reasonable prognosis."

Lensen said despite the common perception that IVF could guarantee pregnancy, IVF success rates across the world remain "modest".

She urged IVF clinics and clinicians to provide clearer clarification on the effects of the add-ons.

"We need better safeguards to make sure patients are getting clear, balanced and evidence-based information," she said.

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