Fertility treatment baby is Aussie first

The Royal Hospital for Women is celebrating an Australian first, following the arrival of a baby conceived via a new clinical procedure to treat infertility.

Leanna and Theo Loutas struggled for two years to fall pregnant, trying various treatment methods, including a round of IVF.

Then Leanna was offered the Australian first fertility treatment, Capacitation in-vitro maturation (CAPA IVM). The treatment involves retrieving the mother’s eggs at an immature stage and bringing them to maturity in cell culture, eliminating the need for two weeks of hormone treatment.

CAPA IVM costs about half the price of traditional IVF and is available for eligible patients at the Royal Hospital for Women.

The Royal’s head of Reproductive Medicine, Professor Bill Ledger said baby Bonnie’s arrival is particularly special. “We’ve all been looking forward to seeing this baby come into the world,” he said.

“The Royal is one of only six locations in the world to offer CAPA-IVM and this is the first baby conceived here in Australia through this method.

Professor Robert Gilchrist made a research breakthrough at the University of New South Wales, in partnership with researchers from Brussels and Saigon, and this led to the development of CAPA IVM.

“Many years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into this. Countless hours of research over two decades, so this is a very proud moment,” Professor Gilchrist said.

For Leanna, CAPA IVM meant she was able to travel and celebrate Christmas, without the stress of two weeks of hormone injections.

“I was going to take a break before trying IVF again as I didn’t want all of the side effects of the hormones while traveling,” she said. “When I was offered CAPA IVM, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I would only need to do two days of injections. It made the whole process seem a lot less daunting.”

Photo credit: Sydney Morning Herald.