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New Sher Institute IVF Office on Long Island to Have Exclusive Access to Breakthrough Technology

Mon, 10 Jul 2006, 23:15:00 EDT

Edited by Carly M. Zander

GARDEN CITY, NY - July 10 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- The Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine - New York, part of one of the largest and fastest growing infertility networks in the United States, announces the opening of Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine-Long Island (SIRM(SM)-Long Island) in partnership with Dr. Jeffrey Braverman.

Located in Garden City, NY, SIRM(SM)-Long Island will have exclusive access on Long Island to breakthrough technology in the field of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) that has the potential to dramatically increase the odds of a woman getting pregnant through IVF, while at the same time reducing the likelihood of multiple births.

Dr. Jeffrey Braverman, who has been in private practice for over 16 years as an Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Infertility Specialist will assume the role of Medical Director of SIRM(SM)-Long Island. He has personally delivered over 6,000 babies and has overseen thousands of infertility treatment cycles, with an outstanding record of success.

"I'm extremely excited to lead the Sher Institutes' Long Island office," said Dr. Braverman. "This area is home for me, and I look forward to bringing SIRM's longstanding tradition of compassionate care and ongoing medical breakthroughs to the people here. I feel like we have the potential to help so many people in this area that are struggling with infertility."

Dr. Joel Batzofin, Medical Director of SIRM-New York was equally optimistic in his outlook for the Long Island office. "I look forward to working closely with Dr Braverman in helping provide Long Island patients access to cutting edge protocols and technology that are unique to SIRM centers," he said. "I too see tremendous opportunities to help people."

One recent example of this proprietary technology is the subject of several studies by SIRM(SM) Founder Geoffrey Sher, M.D. and Levent Keskintepe Ph.D. of ReproCure, LLC. The studies demonstrate that a new process for the genetic testing of early embryos may help determine which ones are most likely to produce normal pregnancies in IVF patients. This could lead to a major improvement in IVF success rates for practices using this testing method. The current national average pregnancy rate is 30% per treatment cycle in women under 40. Furthermore, the researchers report that these increases can be achieved by transferring no more than one (1) or sometimes two (2) embryos, thereby virtually eliminating the risk of high order multiple births (triplets or greater).

This genomic testing process focuses on the measurement of a genetic marker called Human Leukocyte Antigen-G (HLA-G) released by the 2-day-old embryo in the media in which it is developing.

This research was published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility as well as the medical journal Human Reproduction and will be presented at an international conference in Europe later this year.

Another process for testing the DNA of an egg prior to fertilization is nearing the final stage of investigation and promises to be even more predictive of egg/embryo "competence." The researchers, working in collaboration with a team of Japanese scientists have applied this method to improve the ability to successfully freeze human eggs without causing a large reduction in the thawed egg's ability to subsequently fertilize and produce embryos.

"Previous methods for selecting the best quality embryos for transfer to the uterus relied mainly on visual assessment of individual embryos by microscope," said Dr. Sher. "Those types of evaluations are severely limited in their ability to provide any strong indication of subsequent normal embryonic and fetal development."

Because of the limitations of current embryo assessment methods, there has been a tendency among many IVF practitioners to transfer more, rather than fewer embryos to the patient's uterus in the hope of improving the chances of pregnancy. This in turn has led to a high rate of high-order multiple pregnancies (triplets or more) with inherent long-term or even life-endangering risks to both mother and children. "The explosion in the rate of higher order pregnancies as a result of IVF has created an enormous burden on the health care system," explains Dr. Sher. "This is the primary reason why most insurance companies don't currently cover IVF."

"The advantage of this new methodology is twofold," states Dr. Braverman. "First, it dramatically increases the chances of success with IVF. Second, by allowing us to select the best embryos to transfer, we can reduce the total number of embryos transferred and thereby reduce the incidence of triplet pregnancies or greater."


About SIRM

The Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine (SIRM) are a network of independently owned IVF centers and satellite offices that operate under a shared set of practice standards and centralized management systems. SIRM(SM) founder, Dr. Geoffrey Sher, established the country's first private IVF practice in 1982. SIRM(SM) physicians have been influential in the development of numerous breakthroughs in the field of reproductive care over the past 23 years. SIRM(SM) offices are located in Long Island, Manhattan, and Westchester, New York; Bedminster and Monmouth County, New Jersey; St. Louis, Missouri; Los Angeles, Orange County, Chino Hills, West Hills, Sacramento, and Pleasanton, California; Dallas, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada, and Peoria, Illinois.

Further information about the Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine can be found on the SIRM(SM) website at www.haveababy.com.

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