One of the most significant barriers of fertility treatments for patients wanting to start a family is cost. INVOcell now offers a potentially more affordable option and Atlantic Reproductive is proud to be the first fertility clinic in theRaleigh, NC area to provide this fertility treatment so more patients can afford quality fertility care.
What is INVOcell?
The only FDA-approved IVC (intravaginal culture) system, INVOcell is the first device of its kind. This thumb-sized, medical grade plastic device enables the egg fertilization and embryo development to happen inside a woman’s body instead of in a lab. This decreases the cost of the fertility treatment, compared to traditional IVF.
How INVOcell Works
To put it simply, the INVOcell device holds both the eggs and sperm in a patient’s body for fertilization and incubation. Two main components make up the device. The incubation component holds the eggs, sperm, and developing embryo, while the retention component securely holds the incubation device inside the vagina.
INVOcell is permeable to gases, allowing the sperm, eggs, and embryos to develop inside the vagina. First, eggs are retrieved from a female patient and then mixed with the sperm in the lab. The eggs are then placed into the culture media in the device before being placed into the vagina.
INVOcell allows a woman to use her own body, instead of using the IVF laboratory, to simulate the required conditions for the sperm, eggs, and embryos to develop. The permeability of the plastic of the INVOcell device to gas and temperature allows the device to mimic the conditions similar to those of the vagina and fallopian tube.
The device is removed from the vagina after five days and the embryos are then removed from the device. The best quality embryo is transferred into the uterus of the patient. Any additional high quality embryos are frozen for future use.
How INVOcell Can Lower Your Fertility Treatment Cost
The first way that INVOcell can lower the cost of fertility treatments is that more expensive lab procedures, like those of traditional IVF, are not necessary with the INVOcell fertility treatment. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI, isn’t required and there is no need for incubation in the laboratory.
Most traditional IVF cases use ICSI, where sperm are injected directly into the eggs. With INVOcell, however, the goal is for eggs to be fertilized naturally. Embryo incubation in a lab isn’t necessary either. The INVOcell device used for incubation replaces the need for the incubators used in traditional IVF treatments, reducing the cost of fertility treatments for patients.
Another way in which INVOcell can reduce the cost of fertility treatment is the limited need for medications during the ovarian stimulation. Medication costs with INVOcell are typically a fifth of the medication cost of a traditional IVF cycle. Fewer ultrasounds and fewer appointments are required as well.
What is the Success Rate of INVOcell?
In a clinical trial by INVOcell involving 450 cycles, INVOcell was shown to have a higher success rate than IUI 421 cycles resulting in embryo transfers, and of those transfers, one in four results in a birth. In comparison to this 25% success rate, studies have reported that IUI treatments have a success rate of 8%-10%. However, traditional IVF has been shown to have a success rate of up to 48%, according to nationally reported data.
While the cost of INVOcell can run higher than that of IUI, it has demonstrated a higher rate of success. In the INVOcell study, just over 50% of the patients conceived in a single cycle, with some patients having additional embryos to freeze for future use. On the other hand, one in four couples dealing with infertility conceive with IUI treatment with up to three cycles. While the cost of INVOcell may be greater, the success rate may make it worth skipping IUI and choosing INVOcell instead. Compared to IVF, INVOcell is typically half the cost, making it a more attractive and affordable fertility treatment option.
The success rates of INVOcell demonstrated in the study were from a patient group with infertility and predicted to have a good chance of success with in vitro fertilization. Factors included:
- Patient age of 37 or younger
- Normal ovarian reserve
- Body mass index less than 36
- Good sperm parameters
Contact Atlantic Reproductive Medicine
When deciding whether INVOcell is the right fertility treatment for you, it’s best to consult a medical professional experienced with the INVOcell device. Talk to one the experienced fertility doctors at Atlantic Reproductive Medicine to find out if INVOcell is the best fertility treatment option for starting your family.