British Channel 4 Documentary on Multiples and IVF Abroad

Dragonfly is a factual BAFTA-award winning independent production company, our programmes include Extreme A&E, One Born Every Minute and The Family.

Channel 4 have commissioned us to make a new one-off documentary about multiple births. The aim is to show viewers what it is like to have a multiple birth, by focusing on the human and medical stories of parents. We also hope to give an understanding of the complexities of multiple births and highlight the specialist work of the healthcare professionals who work with multiples cases.  In practice, this means filming the journeys of women, babies and families at a number of maternity units in the UK.

We are very keen to speak to British mums expecting multiples who have had IVF abroad and ended up falling pregnant with more than one baby!

Please see below with regards to the brief from Channel 4.

C4 DOCUMENTARY ON MULTIPLE BIRTHS and IVF

Dragonfly, the TV production company behind the award-winning series One Born Every Minute are making a new Channel 4 documentary following parents expecting multiples.


We are keen to speak to mothers who are expecting multiples who have had IVF abroad and ended up falling pregnant with more than one baby! We also hope to give an understanding of the complexities of multiple births and highlight the specialist work of the healthcare professionals who work with multiples cases.  In practice, this means filming the journeys of women, babies and families at a number of maternity units in the UK.


If you’re interested in capturing and sharing your amazing journey of becoming a parent, we would love to hear from you.


To find out more about taking part, please get in touch:

sophie.waldron@dragonfly.tv




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More Reviews

A few more reviews from our patients: 

The clinic is very neat and clean and staff is very friendly, there were no language issues as dr idil and angie are well english spoken girls, dr savas is very focused. All our query and questions were answered , things were different but nothing that i can critisize really, i loved cyprus and its people who always have a smile and didnt make us feel differnt but most of all i loved food. We actually are thinking of buying property there , we loved it so much . I would recomand it allll my family and friends.

L.

Dubai, UAE

We heard about the clinic after a failed ivf treatment at a well known English clinic, which was lovely with high tec everything, but also a high tec price!! A friend told us about North Cyprus IVF clinic as she had TWO friends pregnant from their treatment there, one with twins and one with triplets! We decided after much deliberation to try the clinic and I'm soooo glad we did as our twins are due in April.We tried 5 years to start our family. The clinic seemed a bit dated after our treatment in the UK, however the staff were always helpful and our results as far as I'm concerned speak for themselves. We never thought that I'd get pregnant and I'm sure that by combining the ivf with being abroad (we treated it as a holiday!) made all the difference. We will never be able to thank all the staff enough for making our dreams come true.

T.B

London, UK

The fantastic communication started from you! And then the clinic staff were brilliant. Any questions were answered in full. They were honest about the possible outcomes but very reasuring. AND it worked. I have a lovely 8 month old baby. I will be doing this again next summer if i can get the money together. They are professional and very experienced. Thank you so so much.

D.S

Oxford, UK

The clinic were professional and friendly. The decor of the clinic is a bit chintzy which is not what we expected but the places that matter like the operating theatre were stare of art. The staff were friendly and although not many speak Enflish those that did were fluent and helpful. Overall I was very very impressed and would recommend them As I have been, to anyone who needs treatment. We had IVF using our own eggs and sperm and achieved our highest fertility rate we have ever had and my TRIPLETS are now 10 months old.

London, UK

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Gender (Sex) Selection in the UK

Gender selection in the United Kingdom is prohibited by law, therefore, UK patients are not able to choose the gender of their babies for family balancing purposes within the UK. However, UK patients are able to travel abroad for this treatment option.

Given the difficulty of traveling for great lenghts of time for the working people, we have established links with IVF specialists, and scan clinics in the UK, so that our patients can have their preliminary work performed in the UK and then travel to Cyprus for only about a week. This way, our patients feel more comfortable receiving pre-treatment with a local doctor under our supervision and only travel for a short period of time to finalize their treatments.

Having this option, UK patients are able to take advantage of IVF technologies in Cyprus without compromising the legal issues associated with gender selection treatment.



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Teşekkür Notu

Klinikten ve elamanlarindan cok memnun kaldik. Savas Bey, Idil hanim, hemsire hanimlar (Zeliha, Nigar ve adini hatirlayamadigin diger iki hemsire), finansdaki gorevli hanim, Niyazi Bey her konuda yardimci oldular. Savas Bey cok iyi bir ekiple calisiyor. Lutfen tesekkurlerimizi hepsine iletin (embriyolog dahil).


G.K. United Kingdom


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Tips for IVF Success

Even though each IVF treatment is different in itself, there are a number of measures that can be taken in order to maximize your chances of success. In some cases, things that might sound small could make a world of difference in IVF treatment. So let’s be on the safe side and do our part:

1- INITIAL SCAN: Have an ultrasound scan at your gynecologist’s office. This is to make sure there are no fibroids, polyps or free fluids in the uterus that could jeopardize your chances of success. Also, women who are not undergoing egg donor IVF treatment should make sure there are no cysts in the ovaries that could potentially affect their egg count/quality.

2- INVESTIGATION: If you have previously had repeated miscarriages (with or without IVF), it makes sense to investigate the cause. In most cases where women have repeated miscarriages, there is a genetic reason behind it. Some gene mutations affect your blood circulation and cause you to have a miscarriage (especially up to 12 weeks). These genetic tests include testing for mutations in MTHFR C677T, MTHFR A1298C, Factor V Leiden (G1691A), Factor II (G20210A), and PAI I 4G/5G. Similarly, women with repeated IVF failures should seek further investigation.

3- VITAMINS: It is important that your take essential vitamins and nutrients prior to and during pregnancy. A supplement such as “pregnacare” includes Folic Acid, B6, B12 and Zinc supplements, which are proven to reduce the likelihood of a miscarriage and support healthy development of your baby. It makes sense to start using such a supplement at least a few weeks prior to your embryo transfer stage. Vitamin C taken at certain doses has also proved effective in increasing egg quality according to various clinical studies.

4- HORMONE TESTING: For women undergoing IVF treatment using their own eggs, it is important that certain hormone tests are done prior to using any IVF medication. These hormone tests include:
FSH, LH, Estradiol Prolactine and TSH. For women over 35, AMH test will also be an important consideration. Based on these hormone test results, we will be able to assess your ovarian reserves and egg quality. Also, it these results will be important in identifying your treatment protocol and the dose of medication that needs to be administered.

5- IVF FAILURES: For patients who have had several failed IVF attempts, with no history of pregnancy, it makes sense to have an endometrial biopsy around days 18-21 of menstrual period. An endometrial biopsy will tell whether there is any condition that might prevent implantation and a successful pregnancy. There are also other infections that need to be checked for in this case.

6- INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Prior to embryo transfer, it is vital that certain infectious disease tests are done on both parents. The purpose of these tests is to make sure the newborn does not receive any infection from his/her parents. Some of these test are routine tests, which most of you do not have, such as Anti-HIV, Anti-HCV. These can be done at our clinic prior to embryo transfer. However, some other test results, such ac CMV IgG and Chlamidia might require the use of antibiotics for a certain amount of time prior to emrbyo transfer, therefore, it is important for the female patient to have tested for CMV IgG and Chlamidia once the IVF decision has been made.

7- AVOID STRESS: One of the biggest enemies of IVF treatment is stress. Avoid stress as much as you can when going through IVF treatment. You can take up yoga classes, or join the gym or start a book club, anything that will help you avoid stress will add a couple of percentages to your chances of success.




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Male Infertility Problems

 Infertility in men is most often caused by:

1- Problems making sperm, which means producing too few sperm or none at all

2- Problems with the sperm's ability to reach the egg and fertilize it, which could be the case where abnormal sperm shape or structure prevent it from moving correctly

Sometimes a man is born with the problems that affect his sperm. Other times problems start later in life due to illness or injury. For example, cystic fibrosis often causes infertility in men. The number and quality of a man's sperm can also be affected by his overall health and lifestyle. Some things that may reduce sperm number and/or quality include:

- alcohol

- drugs

- environmental toxins, including pesticides and lead

- smoking cigarettes

- health problems

- medicines

-radiation treatment and chemotherapy for cancer

-age

In some cases, even if sperm production is not sufficient enough to produce sperm through ejaculation, minor surgical procedures like TESA and MESA can be used to retrieve the sperm. In the cases where the sperm is unable to reach and fertilize the egg, ICSI is used for assisted fertilization. In other cases where no sperm can be found or the quality is exceptionally low, using donor sperm becomes the only alternative.

Semen Analysis

With the aid of a semen analysis, sperm can  be categorized in the following groups:

Azoospermia: Nearly or no live sperm cells in semen

Oligospermia: Low count of live sperm cells

Asthenospermia: Low motility

Terathospermia: Low morphology

Fertile: No problems with count, motility or morphology

Sub-Fertile: Slight male factor infertility.

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Gender Selection in North Cyprus

New technologies are now allowing some couples to choose the sex of their child before pregnancy. Many couples wish to have a child of a particular sex in order to prevent certain medical illness or to help balance their families.

PGD is one of the most successful methods when it comes to gender selection. This is a complex procedure that involves the creation of embryos that are then analyzed for cell structure and DNA. Embryos are created in a laboratory and allowed to divide. After three or four days, one cell from each dividing embryo is removed and analyzed for DNA and genetic material. Once the sex of the embryos are determined, only those embryos of the desired sex are implanted into the mother’s uterus through IVF. PGD is highly successful, giving you a 99% chance of having a child of the desired gender.

Gender Selection IVF works very much like the IVF procedures explained in the “IVF” section under “Our Services”. However, the embryos that are formed using the IVF procedures undergo genetic testing known as PGD before they are transferred into the uterus. Therefore, in gender selection IVF, the five step IVF procedure requires a sixth step, which comes right before the embryo transfer step.

North Cyprus Fertility Clinic offers low cost, high success Gender (sex) selection IVF by using state of the art technology in fertility treatment and a team of experts. Our genetics laboratory employs a biogenetical engineer, two PhD embryologists and a lab assistant. We are the very first IVF clinic with two separate IVF laboratories and its own research center.

North Cyprus IVF is now the second location in the world to offer Microsort for gender selection.

Microsort is a technology that sorts sperm into X and Y chromosomes prior to fertilizing the eggs, thus, allowing you to have more male or female embryos after fertilization. Microsort coupled with PGD for gender selection will offer dramatically high chances of success compared to PGD alone.

We have started taking applications for our Microsort program. We will be offering microsort starting in July. However, due to the large volume of demand for this procedure, we will be having a waiting list. The sooner you apply, the sooner you have a chance of being admitted into our microsort program. The following are the three types of alternative gender selection methods we are able to offer through microsort.

IUI + Microsort for Gender Selection:

This is the least invasive gender selection method. Female partner is prescribed a mild dose of medication for ovulation induction so that multiple eggs are produced in the ovaries. Male partner's sperm is sorted via the microsort technology into those that produce boy and girl offsprings. The sorted sperm is injected into the uterus when the eggs are matured and ready for fertilization. This gender selection method is about 90% accurate for female offsprings and 75% accurate for male offsprings. Since eggs are not retrieved from the ovaries, there is no way of biopsying and genetically testing the embryos for sex with 100% accuracy. IUI is usually recommended for women in their 20s as the patient may be required to undergo a series of IUI procedures until pregnancy can be achieved. Success rates with IUI vary between 5-30% depending on the age of the female partner.

IVF + Microsort for Gender Selection:

This treatment method is very much like conventional IVF apart from the fact that male partner's sperm is sorted into those that produce male and female offsprings through the microsort procedure. The microsort sperm is used to fertilize the eggs that are retrieved from the female partner's ovaries at the end of the ovulation induction process. The eggs are fertilized in a laboratory environment and are placed in an incubator until they reach a certain level of development and are then transferred into the uterus for implantation. The medication used in IVF treatment is slightly different from the IUI protocol. Patients who are in their late 20s or in their 30s are often advised to go straight for IVF treatment rather than IUI for higher chances of success.

IVF + Microsort + PGD for Gender Selection:

This is the most effective and most accurate gender selection method. All the steps involved in this treatment are exactly the same as in IVF + Microsort. The only difference is, once the embryos reach a certain level of development (usually 8-cell stage), they are biopsied for genetic screening and gender selection. Even though microsort provides an accuracy of 75-90%, subjecting the embryos to PGD testing makes sure accuracy level goes up to 99.9%. Apart from identifying the sex of the embryos, PGD testing also allows to screen for certain genetic disorders. Through this method, only embryos that are of desired sex and also free of genetic disorders are transferred into the uterus. This way, the patients are not only able to select the sex of their offspring, but can also make sure that the offspring does not possess the most prevalent genetic diseases.

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MISCARRIAGE INVESTIGATION

Miscarriage is defined as pregnancy loss before 24 completed weeks of pregnancy. The occurrence of a miscarriage is a tragic loss for a couple trying to have a child and can be associated with significant psychological problems for the woman, their partner and family. Miscarriage is usually a single occurrence, and often followed by successful pregnancy. Recurrent miscarriage is defined as the loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies. Even after 3 consecutive losses, the chance of a successful pregnancy is over 60%. Most miscarriage occurs within the first 14 weeks of pregnancies. Maternal age and previous number of miscarriages are independent risk factors for a further miscarriage. There could be several reasons for repeated - recurrent miscarriages.

Causes of miscarriage
There are several causes of miscarriage that have been identified. These include chromosomal abnormalities, gene defects, hormonal problems, infection, immunological, uterine abnormalities, chronic maternal illness and environmental hazards.

Blood clotting (thrombophilic) disorders Inherited thrombophilias include Factor V Leiden, Factor II(prothrombin gene) mutations in the gene that codes for MTHFR, an enzyme involved in folate metabolism.
If blood clots occur in the blood vessels of the placenta, the blood flow to the baby is decreased and this can lead to either second trimester miscarriage or, if the pregnancy proceeds, to the birth of a baby that is smaller than he or she ought to be. Women with these disorders are also at risk of developing high blood pressure later in pregnancy

Chromosomal abnormalities One-off pregnancy losses can occur when the cells of the placenta and the fetus contain an abnormal number of chromosomes. Mostly the extra chromosome or the deficient chromosome is not present in the parents: instead the abnormality occurs as mature eggs or (less often) sperm cells are formed just before they are released
The miscarriage happens by chance. In most cases, there is nothing wrong with the mother or father's health and miscarriage is not likely to occur again in a later pregnancy.

The uterus and miscarriage Several abnormalities of the uterus are commonly linked to repeated pregnancy loss. Most of them can be treated with surgery.

They include:

• Congenital abnormalities. These are defects present from birth. For instance, a woman may have a uterus that is divided into two sections by a wall of tissue (septate uterus).

• Uterine fibroids (leiomyomata). Uterine fibroids are benign growths (not cancer) made up of uterine muscle tissue.

• Incompetent cervix. An incompetent cervix is one that begins to widen and open too early, in the middle of pregnancy, without any sign of pain or labor. Incompetent cervix is not a cause for recurrent first trimester losses.

Hormonal disorders

1. Progesterone
Low levels of progesterone hormone are frequently found in women whose pregnancies are miscarrying.

However, low progesterone levels in early pregnancy reflect the fact that the pregnancy has not implanted successfully in the womb lining, rather than because the developing placenta is not producing enough progesterone to maintain the pregnancy. This is an important point - low progesterone is the effect not the cause of the miscarriage. This explains why giving women progesterone and/or hCG hormone injections in early pregnancy does not improve pregnancy outcome.

The exception to this is when we take advantage of the immunosuppressant effects of progesterone in women who are found to have immune problems.

2. Follicle Stimulating Hormone
Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) drives the ovary to start growing follicles. Unfortunately, some women with a history of pregnancy loss are also found to have high FSH levels because their ovaries have become prematurely menopausal. Although rare, this is obviously a very important problem to identify. If FSH levels are high, the appropriate next step is referral to a fertility specialist.

3. The uterine lining (the endometrium)
At the present time the only way of determining the response of the endometrium at the time of implantation is to sample it and look at the histological (microscopic) evidence of the state of the tissues. An endometrial biopsy can be performed towards the end of your cycle (approximately day 26). This biopsy is no more uncomfortable than undergoing a cervical smear test. However, in order to be able to obtain the most useful information from the biopsy, it is important to know exactly the time of ovulation.

4. Polycystic ovarian syndrome
A pelvic ultrasound scan shows that many women with recurrent miscarriage have polycystic ovaries (PCO). This is a common condition, found in 25% of all women, in which there are multiple small cysts within the ovary. These cysts are not dangerous and cannot be removed as they are within the ovary.
Polycystic ovaries can sometimes be associated with a number of hormonal imbalances such as increased production of LH and testosterone. A number of carefully designed studies have shown that neither PCO nor high LH levels are a cause for recurrent miscarriages.

Infections The role that vaginal infections may play in recurrent pregnancy loss is the subject of a new field of research.

Infection may well play a role in causing late pregnancy losses (14 weeks gestation) in a small number of women but it is unlikely to be important in causing early miscarriages.

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