What can be learned from the Chinese experience in response to infertility.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to reviews the history of China's population policy since 2011, and draw lessons from the Chinese experience in response to infertility. METHODS: Data from the Chinese infertility status survey report (2009) and national statistical yearbooks (2009-2019) are used to assess the severity of infertility and reproductive centers shortage in China. Lessons from China was informed by a review of existing literature. RESULTS: The proportion of couples suffering from infertility in China increased to 12.5% (166.8 million in 2009) from just 6.89% (86.6 million in 1988) two decades earlier, while the number of reproductive centers was one for every 3.1 million citizens. The total costs per live birth for medically assisted reproduction in Chinese public fertility clinics was 30,000 yuan in 2012. Among infertile couples, unemployed patients accounted for the largest proportion (21.9% in 2014). Currently in China, health regulations permit oocyte donation only from infertility patients who have 20 or more mature oocytes, of which at least 15 must be kept for their own treatment. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to integrate the reproductive health care of infertile people into the national public health service. In addition to relieving their economic burden, national policies should guide and support enterprises to guarantee employee medical leave for infertility. Growing numbers of bereaved older women who have lost their only child make it imperative to reconsider liberalizing the regulation of oocyte donation in China.

Charles Thibault and assisted reproduction in France.

Charles Thibault was liked by French gynaecologists. There was not a year that Charles Thibault did not attend clinician gynaecology conferences. He made great strides in research on in vitro fertilisation, being the first to perform in vitro fertilised (IVF) oocyte transfers in rabbits. Later, in 1978 the first human pregnancy following IVF was achieved in the UK when Louise Brown was born. In 1980, two French teams,one at the Sèvres hospital and the other at the Clamart University Teaching Hospital, carried out egg retrievals in patients with natural cycles, after determination of the urinary LH peak, under general anaesthesia and by laparoscopy. The Clamart team developed LH SIR, which enabled a more accurate determination of the ideal time for egg collection. In 1983, the same team reported the first ambulatory oocyte retrievals by ultrasound, under local anaesthesia. This new technique did not require general anaesthesia. Finally, in 1983, the rate of births, per transfer, for the Sèvres team rose to 5.31%. 1984 showed considerable improvement: 13.83%. The first step in establishing IVF in France was completed with the Carghese symposium, in September 1984, where Charles Thibault pleaded for animal experimentation before human clinical trials. It was only later that ART developed significantly, necessitating a legislative framework and organisations such as GEFF and FIVNAT.

Programa de doaçäo de oócitos na Unidade de Reproduçäo Humana do Hospital Mater DEI: Fertimater / Oocyte donation program at the Hospital Mater Dei Human Reproduction Unit: Fertimater

O programa de doaçäo de oócitos do Fertimater foi implantado em 1994 com a finalidade de beneficiar casais inférteis com fator feminino. As pacientes com funçäo ovariana insuficiente, anormalidades genéticas e insucessos repetidos de FIV clássica constituem as principais indicaçöes para a doaçäo de oócitos. As pacientes doadoras foram submetidas a um protocolo de FIV, incluindo rastreamento para doenças infecciosas. As receptoras foram submetidas a um protocolo especial que consistia no preenchimento de consentimento informada, de uma avaliaçäo psicológica especializada, anamnese, exame físico e exames complementares (incluido HIV, HbsAg, VDRL e Machado-Guerreiro). Os ciclos menstruais das doadoras e receptoras foram sincronizados de acordo com a necessidade através de análogo de GnRH (acetado de Goserelina). Os oócitos foram obtidos a partir de pacientes que se submeteram a fertilizaçäo in-vitro e doaram seus óvulos excedentes ou entäo, através de doaçäo cruzada, sempre mantendo o caráter näo comercial e anônimo. Os óvulos foram inseminados com os gametas do parceiro da receptora e transferidos após 48 horas, no estágio de duas a quatro células. Um número máximo de quatro embriöes foram transferidos para o útero das receptoras e uma dosagem de ß-HCG sérico foi realizada após 12 dias para o diagnóstico de gravidez