 |
| |
History of USC Fertility
USC Fertility has a long history and a solid tradition of being a leader in the field of assisted reproduction. Following the birth of the world's first in vitro fertilized baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 in Great Britain, a program for in vitro fertilization (IVF) was begun at USC. Under its first director Dr. Richard Marrs, the program achieved the birth of the second in vitro fertilized baby in the United States in 1982, less than one year after America's first in vitro baby was born in the Jones Institute in Virginia. The program subsequently moved to The Hospital of the Good Samaritan. Dr. Richard Paulson joined the program in 1985, the year that USC achieved the birth of the first baby born as a result of embryo freezing and thawing in the United States.
In 1986, the program moved to the USC-affiliated California Medical Center, Los Angeles, and Dr. Paulson was named its director. In 1987, the program reported the world's first triplet pregnancy following frozen embryo transfer. The program was among the first to offer the new technology of ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration, which quickly became the standard method of oocyte retrieval. A direct result of this new technology was the development of unstimulated IVF, which uses the body's own natural cycle to select and mature a single dominant oocyte, thus making IVF technology available to women who do not respond to or cannot take fertility medications. The USC program is credited with much of the early work and research in this area.
Oocyte donation became a second area of major focus. As a result of its pioneering efforts in the implementation of transvaginal follicle aspiration, the Program was among the first to successfully establish an oocyte donation program. Careful attention to detail and standardized stimulation and retrieval protocols allowed the USC researchers to realize what others had not: that oocyte donation was associated with unprecedented pregnancy success.
Above and beyond the correct application of assisted reproductive techniques, oocyte donation represented a unique physiologic configuration in which both the ovarian stimulation as well as the uterine preparation could be optimized independently. This insight allowed the USC investigators to make major strides into the understanding of uterine receptivity and the contribution to pregnancy success made by the oocyte quality. It also led directly to the application of oocyte donation to women of advanced reproductive age. By demonstrating that the uterus does not age with respect to uterine receptivity, the USC program was able to offer oocyte donation to women in their forties and even early fifties and achieve pregnancy results that were identical to those of younger women.
The USC contributions to milestones in oocyte donation include: first report of oocyte donation to women over 40 years of age (New England Journal of Medicine, 1990); expanded series of egg donation to women over 40 (JAMA, 1991); first report of egg donation in women over 50 (Lancet, 1993); report of successful birth after oocyte donation to world's oldest mother at 63 (Fertility & Sterility, 1997).
In 1997, the Program moved back to Hospital of the Good Samaritan. The new office was designed to be self-contained and the ART laboratory is part of the same space. This required extensive construction and the installation of air filtration apparatus. But it was worth it, as pregnancy rates jumped to over 50% per cycle for good pregnancy IVF candidates and for recipients of egg donation.
The USC Fertility program has been and continues to be a leader in Assisted Reproduction. The program continues its commitment to provide state of the art high quality medical services to infertile couples and single women in a personal supportive environment. Because a full range of services is available, care can be individualized. As assisted reproductive moves into the 21st century, USC Fertility is committed to remaining in a leadership role and to continue to develop techniques and expand the fund of knowledge, which makes reproduction an attainable reality for all who cannot conceive without specialized assistance.
|
