The History of IVF

The Government of Victoria established a review of IVF research and practice which led to the proclamation of the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984, the first legislation to regulate IVF and its associated human embryo research.

First surrogacy embryo transfer baby born in California

First report on pregnancy following translaparoscopic GIFT procedure (Asch RH, Ellsworth LR, Balmaceda JP, Wong PC. Pregnancy after translaparoscopic gamete intrafallopian transfer. Lancet, 1984;3;2:1034-5).

The first report on pregnancy following IVF and egg donation in a woman with primary ovarian failure. (Lutjen P, Trounson A, Leeton J, Findlay J, Wood C and Renou P. The establishment and maintenance of pregnancy using in vitro fertilization and embryo donation in a patient with primary ovarian failure. Nature, 1984;307,174 – 175).

Introduction of GnRH agonists to the IVF treatment protocol (Porter RN, Smith W, Craft IL, Abdulwahid NA, Jacobs HS. Induction of ovulation for in-vitro fertilisation using buserelin and gonadotropins. Lancet, 1984;1;2:1284-5).

A report of pregnancy following transfer of intact frozen-thawed embryos (Zeilmaker GH, Alberda AT, van Gent I, Rijkmans CM, Drogendijk AC.Two pregnancies following transfer of intact frozen-thawed embryos. Fertil Steril. 1984;42(2):293-6).

An unusual report of the possibility that abnormal spermatozoa could be enriched and give rise to healthy babies. (Cohen J, Fehilly CB, Fishel SB, Edwards RG, Hewitt J, Rowland GF, Steptoe PC, Webster J. Male infertility successfully treated by in-vitro fertilisation.Lancet. 1984, 2;1(8388):1239-40).

The first publication demonstrating HCG secretion by the human embryo (Fishel SB, Edwards RG, Evans CJ. Human chorionic gonadotropin secreted by preimplantation embryos cultured in vitro.Science. 1984, 24;223(4638):816-8).

The world's first IVF quadruplets were born on January 6, 1984, in Melbourne.