The History of IVF -The Milestones

1990

The first successful human cleavage-stage embryo vitrification followed by a successful delivery (Gordts S, Roziers P, Campo R, Noto V. Survival and pregnancy outcome after ultrarapid freezing of human embryos. Fertil Steril 1990;53:469-72).

Pregnancies from biopsied human preimplantation embryos sexed by Y-specific DNA amplification. (Handyside AH, Kontogianni EH, Hardy K, Winston RM. Pregnancies from biopsied human preimplantation embryos sexed by Y-specific DNA amplification. Nature. 1990;19;344:768-70).

First report of assisted hatching in human embryos. (Cohen J, Elsner C, Kort H, Malter H, Massey J, Mayer MP, Wiemer K. Impairment of the hatching process following IVF in the human and improvement of implantation by assisting hatching using micromanipulation. Hum Reprod. 1990;5(1):7-13).

The first report on polar body biopsy, transfer of the embryo and achieving pregnancy (Verlinsky Y, Ginsberg N, Lifchez A, Valle J, MoiseJ, Strom CM. Analysis of the first polar body: preconception genetic diagnosis. Hum. Reprod. 1990 5: 826-829).

Gonen et al proposed the use of GnRH agonist in place of hCG as a means to trigger the gonadotropic surge for IVF. (Gonen Y, Balakier H, Powell W, Casper RF. Use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist to trigger follicular maturation for in vitro fertilization. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1990;71(4):918-22).

Gonen, Jacobson and Casper pioneered the use of combined oral contraceptives for follicle synchronization and cycle scheduling in IVF. (Gonen Y, Jacobson W, Casper RF. Gonadotropin suppression with oral contraceptives before in vitro fertilization. Fertil Steril 1990;53:282-7).

Fishel et all reported about twin birth after subzonal insemination (Fishel S, Antinori S, Jackson P, Johnson J, Lisi F, Chiariello F, Versaci C. Twin birth after subzonal insemination. Lancet. 1990 24;335(8691):722-3).