Mitochondrial Transfer

[Rosie123456]

Hello everyone. I am a 44 year old woman with a 1.1pmo/l amh level. I am reading that mitochondrial transfer takes the dna from your egg and puts it with the energy and youth from a donor younger egg. Has anyone any info on this process or success rates or clinics?

Many thanks. xxxx

[FertilityFriends]

[miamiamo]

Have you checked out ESHRE site? If a clinic is reliable, it will be on their list with their success rates.

[LilyBeau]

Hi Rosie,
I had the treatment and it was an utter waste of money. There are some medical papers which the clinics appear to have grudgingly released which state that MT after the age of 39 doesn't work. There is also research which suggests that MT can cause premature aging. This was a study on mice I believe.
Our experience was pretty rotten. We were sold the treatment with various guarantees but when we asked about these guarantees we were told we were being ungrateful. Seriously. Also, we had some back up eggs from the donor retrieval should the MT fail. Our clinic in the Ukraine suddenly said they didn't exist and offered us embryos which they'd created with my partner's sperm and some random donor. They never even asked us!
Personally, I would warn against anyone who is considering undergoing this treatment as its one massive money making enterprise exploiting desperate people. It is still in the research phase and if you're happy to accept the risks, you will be paying for experimental research which has been banned in most countries.
Sorry to dash your hopes. You will find some positive stories. I think 18 women so far have been successful, though that number has probably gone up over the past year.
All the best xxx

[Rosie123456]

Hi Lily,

Thanks for your reply. That is really useful. Can you share with me the research you have found about it not working in women over 39? I have a clinic in Cyrprus called  Kyrenia IVF which says that they have treated 27 patients over the age of 40 with a 75% success rates. TBH I feel like I don't trust a lot of these clinics as I know how much the stats can be used for marketing purposes. Perhaps I am unfairly sceptical but I think it is good to be cautious.

What do you think?

Rosie xxx

[LilyBeau]

I've just tried to find the article but can't locate it. One was a medical type journal article and the other was just in the news, but they both reported the same thing, that success rate is low to none for women over 39. One women at the clinic got pregnant spontaenously after the failed transfer. I did come across a term call "Mito-nuclear Incompatibility" which talks about the potential health risks to children born from this treatment. Because the youngest child from this method is only 3 or 4, there's still a life time to observe the defects of the treatment.
In the end, I am glad it didn't work as some of the stuff I read in medical journals scared the heck out of me.

I get it though. It's hard to let go of that dream and that connection. I struggled with it and I still do. I just had a failed DE transfer. It was most likely the embryo rather than my uterus, but oh my gosh did I grieve for that little bean. I grieved the loss of my own genetic fertility, like it was a miscarriage. It was so tough. But only when I lost this DE conceived baby did I realise just how much I already loved it. I know I will always grieve the loss of my fertility, like a person, like the loss of a partner, parent or sibling. It never leaves you and is irreplaceable. But I've learned now that my capacity to love a child is not affected by the genetic connection. It took a lot of soulsearching to get to this place, and not everyone will feel that way. Whatever you choose to do, and no judgment if you try the MT, I really hope you get your little miracle. xxxx

[Anenome]

Hi

I found this which might be of interest! 

http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/mitochondrial-transfer-making-three-parent-babies/

A x

[miamiamo]

@LilyBeau - I am sorry to know about your negative experiences, and agree with you, some clinics might manipulate data for marketing purposes. Although, some new procedures might improve chances of getting pregnant, and if such treatments are realible, clinics will probably report them to organisations, such as ESHRE.

[Anenome]

Lily beau,

Something struck me about your post.  You said the clinic offered you embryos they had created using a donor and your partner’s sperm?  Just wondering if you used those embryos and if not, what did the clinic do with them?  There have been some unscrupulous practices in some clinic and I was a bit worried for you.

A xx

[queenie123]

Lily beau, 

I agree with Anenome - do be careful - we looked into mitocondiral transfer, and one of the main reasons I decided against it was because of the reputation of the clinic I think you are talking about.  I am so so sorry that you have had a bad experience.  I think the clinic you are talking about has had more than 1 legal case of giving people the wrong embryos, loosing or mixing up embryo's.  If you don't want to use the embryo's they made, do make sure you know what they have done with them.

Lily beau,

Something struck me about your post.  You said the clinic offered you embryos they had created using a donor and your partner’s sperm?  Just wondering if you used those embryos and if not, what did the clinic do with them?  There have been some unscrupulous practices in some clinic and I was a bit worried for you.

A xx

It's actually a different problem to the 3 person baby, but yes, because it's got questionable ethics and evidence any clinic advocating high sucess rates with it - it is sensible to take a precautionary approach. 

Rosie - the clinic you suggested is in Northern Cyprus, it is not in Europe and won't publish their results in the same way as most clinics.  Greece has strict laws and ethics I trust a lot of Greek clinics, but Northern Cyprus is Turkey/Africa - it is a wild card - Avoid, Avoid, Avoid.

Even if you can come to terms with the real risks of DNA miss-match, ageing, the fact is it doesn't actually work that well etc. etc.  The only clinic I might trust is the one in Mexico - becuase it was started by NewYork doctors.  But they haven't had the sucess they hoped for and even though they offered it for a few years - I don't believe they are still offering it.  Which tells you a lot about weather or not it works.