Couple's 'fast-freeze' IVF baby

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Ian and Rebecca Bloomer have had baby Evie following groundbreaking IVF treatment.

A couple have become the first in Wales to have a baby using a pioneering IVF technique which fast-freezes embryos, doctors in Cardiff say.

Evie, who was conceived through "vitrification", was born to Ian and Rebecca Bloomer on 23 July.

The method uses liquid nitrogen to freeze embryos quickly, reducing the risk of damage when they are thawed.

The couple, of Cwmbran, had tried for a baby for seven years and say their success should offer hope to others.

The couple had been trying for a baby since they married in 2001 but tests revealed Mrs Bloomer, 28, had endometriosis, a condition which was making it difficult for her to conceive.

They attended the IVF clinic at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, and after a failed attempt, the hospital offered the Bloomers a new way of freezing their unused embryos.

The technique - vitrification - gives embryos a better chance of surviving until couples are ready to try IVF again because the fast-freeze method prevents the formation of crystals that can damage embryos when they are thawed.

Rebecca and Ian Bloomer said it had been an emotional rollercoaster

Mrs Bloomer became pregnant almost immediately using one of the fast-frozen embryos and gave birth to Evie at the Royal Gwent Hospital, in Newport, on 23 July.

"We were willing to try anything really, we'd both always wanted children. It's overwhelming. I'm still staring at her now thinking 'wow, she's ours - it's actually happened for us'," said Mrs Bloomer.

"I hope that if anybody going through treatment sees us and sees Evie it gives them one last little bit of hope to go for it.

"It's been a real emotional rollercoaster. There's been ups and downs, but you get through it and to have Evie now, you forget what you went through. It makes it all worthwhile."

Chemotherapy hope

The Cardiff hospital was the first in Wales to begin offering embryo vitrification, in August 2007.

Lyndon Miles, head of embryology and andrology for IVF Wales, said 17 out of the 39 women offered the treatment so far had fallen pregnant and four of those were expecting twins.

He said the process would also be helpful to women diagnosed with cancer who wanted to freeze a number of eggs in case chemotherapy left them infertile.

Mr Miles said early results and publications in Japan and the USA had been "extremely encouraging".

Lyndon Miles said he was delighted to have helped the Bloomers

He said a study on babies born from vitrification showed "no adverse effects of the technique and there are no implications to Evie's health as a result of the vitrification process".

He added: "I'm delighted we have been able to help Ian and Rebecca."

Vitrification involves rapidly cooling and storing embryos at very low temperatures for future use.

"An IVF cycle produces a number of embryos. Those that aren't immediately transferred back to the patient and that are of good enough quality are cooled slowly to the temperature of liquid nitrogen (-196C) and stored until needed.

"Conventional, slow freezing creates ice crystals which can damage the embryo as it is thawed," Mr Miles said.

"Vitrification differs from traditional cooling and storing techniques in that it allows instantaneous 'glass-like' solidification of eggs and embryos without the formation of ice crystals.

"Since no ice crystals form, a much greater percentage of embryos survive thawing following vitrification."

He said with conventional freezing methods, post-thaw survival rates varied from 50% to 80% whereas with vitrification they had achieved 98%.

"In addition, since the introduction of the technique, our pregnancy rate has more than doubled compared to conventional freezing methods," Mr Miles added.

Dr Simon Fishel, managing director of Care Fertility Group, dismissed claims made by the trust earlier that this was the first in UK as being "17 years out of date".

He said: "I introduced this technology in 1991 and the first baby, Laura, was born in October 1992 and was reported in the media at that time - called the 'sugar drop' baby.

"At the time of the birth the HFEA placed a moratorium on this technology as 'too new', but gradually it has been introduced in recent years.

"Care Fertility has had many babies from vitrified embryos, indeed our recent new chromosome technology announced in the media several months ago resulted in babies born that were originally frozen as vitrified embryos.

"The truly latest technology, which we have been the first to introduce, is vitrifying eggs - this has created a paradigm shift in IVF technology."

A spokeswoman for Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust later added there had not been any published work on the treatment in the UK before.

"However following initial media coverage we were contacted by the Care Fertility Group. They informed us that they have also been using the technique in England.

"Baby Evie is the first baby born thanks to embryo vitrification in Wales."