by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
The first baby conceived with the help of UNM's fertility center was born last month in Albuquerque.
Chloe Love Gardner was born Feb. 24 to Katherine and Bill Gardner, who conceived their daughter using in vitro fertilization.
Katherine said she decided to use in vitro so she and Bill could have the family they wanted with two or three children.
"We had been trying to get pregnant for three years," Katherine said. "We both wanted kids. I just wanted to try every avenue I could. I know it's not for everybody, but for us, it worked."
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In vitro fertilization was originally used for women who didn't have fallopian tubes, but it has become an alternative for couples in which the man has a vasectomy or other fertility problems or the woman has endometriosis, said Dr. Paul Magarelli. Magarelli established the Health Sciences Center's Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Clinic.
Endometriosis is a condition where tissue in the uterus travels to other parts of the body.
The in vitro fertilization involves removing up to 100 of a woman's eggs from her ovaries, fertilizing them and placing the healthiest of the resulting embryos in her uterus, Magarelli said.
After the embryos are placed in the uterus, the pregnancy is almost identical to one achieved through intercourse, he said. The process involves less than a 1 percent risk to the woman.
"The risk of taking out eggs is almost equivalent to a blood draw," Magarelli said.
To conceive through intercourse, a man has to produce 20 million to 30 million sperm. Using in vitro fertilization, he has to produce only six or seven sperm, he said.
The procedure is also used to screen embryos for genetic defects, especially in patients over age 35. Those embryos have a high rate of genetic defects, Magarelli said.
In vitro fertilization has been in practice in the United States for more than 20 years. About 500 clinics perform 110,000 procedures per year, Magarelli said.
The success rate is about 38 percent with the procedure, he said. There's a 10 percent success rate for a healthy 30-year-old woman trying to get pregnant through intercourse, he said.
Magarelli started his fertility practice in New Mexico in March 2004. Gardner was his first patient.
"She was a wonderful patient to be the first," Magarelli said.
Gardner said she was happy with Magarelli and has recommended him to friends.
"I was happy with it, and I would do it again," she said. "The end result was great."
After Gardner decided to have the procedure done, she and her husband had to go Magarelli's office in Colorado Springs, Colo., for several days because UNM does not have a lab capable of retrieving eggs and transferring embryos.
The fertility clinic in Albuquerque does not have an in vitro fertilization lab, because it costs about $1 million to build one. Magarelli said he wants to have one built in 2006.
He said 18 of the fertility clinic's patients have undergone the procedure, and 14 of them are pregnant.
To prepare for in vitro fertilization, Katherine underwent acupuncture treatments at Magarelli's recommendation. He conducted a three-year study with Diane Cridennda, a doctor of oriental medicine, that showed acupuncture had a positive impact on the in vitro process.
"We found that we had significantly more babies born," Magarelli said. "We're getting more pregnancies, less miscarriages and more births."
Magarelli will present the findings of the study this month at the 12th World Congress on Human Reproduction in Venice, Italy.
