If all goes well, Hawaii’s first test tube baby may be born late this year.
The first patient to visit the Pacific In-Vitro Fertilization Institute is expected Monday. She and her husband will undergo screening and some basic testing to determine if they will be candidates for the special procedures used to start an embryo going in a laboratory dish.
Five infertility experts and a scientist specializing in embryology today announced the opening of the institute. It will be located in Kapiolani Women’s and Children’s Medical Center in space leased by the group.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) means the procedure takes place in a laboratory. Although a child born as a result of IVF is called a test tube baby, the fertilization actually occurs in a flat Petri dish.
Female candidates for the procedure must be 40 years old or younger with damaged or blocked fallopian tubes, said Dr. Philip I. McNamee, one of the partners in the institute. The services are provided for married couples only.
Other stringent criteria also must be met before someone is accepted into the program to prevent “exploitation” of the patient, according to Dr. Geoffrey Sher.
Sher, from the Northern Nevada Fertility Clinic in Reno, is a consulting physician for the Hawaii group. The Nevada clinic is considered to have one of the most successful IVF programs in the country.
Sher is in Hawaii this week to work with the doctors here. They will receive additional training at the Nevada clinic within the next two months. Then in April, when the physicians are ready to perform the first surgical procedures to remove the eggs and later implant the embryos into the uterus, a team from the Nevada clinic will come to Hawaii to get the group started.
IVF is often considered “the court of last resort” because it only is used when all other efforts have been exhausted, McNamee said. …
The procedure will cost about $5,000. If it fails, a second and third attempt will be just as costly. But no more than three attempts will be made, because if success isn’t achieved by then, chances of a future accomplishment are slim.
