mitochondrial donation

[Sar05]

after 9 failed IVF attempts and 3 biochemical pregnancies we are looking at alternatives

I have recently found information on mitochondrial donation carried out abroad for infertility that is affected by egg quality.

has anyone undergone this? Really just looking for more information/advice.

[DianeArnold]

Hi. I realise this treatment is not done in the UK, so anyone replying please can you PM/ DM Sar, so clinics are not advertised. Thank you. Diane

[Tnthketnf]

Hi Sarah

I do not think you will find many people having had this treatment. From what I understand this treatment, called maternal spindle transfer, isn't available right now as fertility treatment, at least in UK, Spain, Greece, Czech Republic etc. There was a small group of women who had this treatment under a study a few years ago. It took place in Greece in Athens -I think it was institute of life- with collaboration from a Spanish clinic. I think 5 or 6 babies are born through this. I don't know of the full results, like percentage of success, they might be published by now. I remember it was all women under 40 though.

I am not sure if it's offered anywhere in the world, I have in my mind Mexico for some reason. Maybe Google will tell.

I also remember of a similar method that was available, pronuclear transfer. I think it was in Ukraine but I might be wrong.

In UK it is only allowed to be used when women have mitochondrial disease. Apparently since it was approved less than 5 babies are born with this method in UK

[Tnthketnf in reply to Tnthketnf]

remembryo.com/pilot-study-s....

I just found this. It summarizes the study

[Sar05 in reply to Tnthketnf]

thank you that’s really useful - it’s so hard to find information on this subject!

[Hopecontinues]

Hi, I did a bit of research into this a while ago and you have to get in on one of the studies to do it or have a genetic issue. Like others have said it was based in Greece.

Someone suggested cytoplasmic transfer to me, but the only clinics I found who offer this are in North Cyprus and Mexico. I gave it a go in North Cyprus, but I wasn't at all happy with the service. when I got out there they told me it only improves chances by 5% and started adding on additional treatments increasing the cost. Then they wanted me to just do donor and it's a big decision to have to make on the fly. I was told I have 5 minutes to decide what to transfer as the doctor wanted to go for lunch.

I think I had to give it everything I had which is why I tried this treatment. In the end I transferred one of my own egg embryos with cytoplasmic transfer and just a donor egg embryo. I did this twice and it didn't work.

After this I went to donor eggs in Spain and am 26 weeks pregnant after getting a very bespoke treatment plan. I'm so happy to finally be pregnant that I wish I hadn't been so fixated with being the genetic parent, but it's a journey and you never know.

I hope you find your answer and wish you luck on your journey.

X

[ValaI in reply to Hopecontinues]

hi dear, ai hope you dont mind me asking in which clinic did you do your DE treatment and who was your consultant pls? If you dont mind share via msg as mentioning clinics is not allowed here as I know …thanks so much in advance as info like this should help me decide in next steps as well.

[Sar05 in reply to Hopecontinues]

thank you so much for your response and huge congratulations on your pregnancy.

I’ve had a consultation with the clinic in Albania and they said about cytoplasm and that the outcomes aren’t as good so hopefully have ruled that out. I am so sorry you had such an awful experience when you was in Cyprus. Thank you for the heads up as I will bring this up in my next consultation with them!

Thanks for sharing your journey with me

Xx