Test tube babies could be cheaper and just as successful in the future, and this is good news for developing countries.
A new Belgian study concluded low-cost in vitro fertilization is a viable option for poor countries, according to a European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology press release.
The low-cost IVF system yielded almost as many pregnancies as conventional methods. The researchers said infertility care could soon be "universally accessible."
The procedure is only estimated to cost about 200 Euros.
"We estimate that the cost of our simplified laboratory system is between 10 percent and 15 percent of current costs in Western-style IVF programs," the research team said.
Depending on the culture, woman in developing countries could be "abused, ostracized and abandoned to a second-class life in a polygamous marriage" Despite these factors, effective infertility treatment has not been made readily-available in poor countries.
"Infertility care is probably the most neglected health care problem of developing countries, affecting more than 2 million couples according to the WHO," investigator Dr Elke Klerkx from the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Belgium, said.
This new low-cost IVF system uses an embryo culture method, which eliminates the need for CO2 incubation, air purification systems, and medical gas supplies. The procedure will be conducted in low cost labs, which will cut the cost even more.
A study started in 2012 tested both systems on women under the age of 36 who had at least eight oocytes that could be fertilized.
The researchers found the commonly used method and the simplified version had similar results. The highest quality embryo selected by a embryologist was from the low-cost version of the procedure.
The low-cost system had about a 35 percent implantation rate and a 30 percent ongoing pregnancy rate.
The first baby born from the simplified system was a healthy boy who weighed seven pounds 11 ounces.
As of today, 12 healthy babies have been born vaginally from the new procedure.
"The simplified lab procedure will undoubtedly open up a new era in the history of IVF," Dr Klerkx said. "The method not only offers affordable and successful access to IVF, but will make effective treatment techniques available to a much larger part of the world's infertile population. This, therefore, may also be considered an important breakthrough in terms of human rights, equity and social justice."
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