By: Ronald F. Feinberg MD, PhD, Barbara A. McGuirk MD, and George Kovalevsky, MD, The Reproductive Associates of Delaware Team Newark, Dover, and N. Wilmington, DE

Modern fertility care works magic for growing families, but the field has often been blamed for the higher rate of multiple births and pregnancy complications, such as preterm delivery. Even a twin pregnancy increases the risks, with most twin births occurring an average of 4 weeks earlier than singleton babies.

There are numerous medical reasons why many women shouldn’t conceive twins. For example, any woman with a previous history of preterm labor, preterm delivery, or a late pregnancy loss would have a safer pregnancy with one baby. In addition, some women have a small, or abnormally shaped uterus, and would not likely carry twins safely. For some families, having twins to care for and raise can create a real burden.

Recently, exciting advances with IVF (in vitro fertilization) have allowed certain specific centers to offer single embryo transfer with very high rates of success. We just presented our results at a national meeting in Washington, D.C., showing that when a group of women under age 37 proceed with IVF, there is a 60% chance of achieving a normal pregnancy when just one embryo is placed into the uterus. And the chances of that embryo ‘splitting’ to yield identical twins appears to be just 2-3%. Traditionally, most twins conceived following fertility treatments are fraternal, resulting from separate eggs and embryos.

Overall, with new technologies utilizing embryo freezing, we now believe that the cumulative chance of achieving pregnancy with IVF and single embryo transfer, for women under 37, is approaching 80-90%. And the risks of these pregnancies, especially when just one baby is ‘cooking,’ appear to be quite low. Statistics like this indicate a real victory in our efforts to help thousands of Delawareans build their families in a safe and healthy fashion.

Reproductive Associates of Delaware is home to three nationally recognized reproductive endocrinologists:

Dr. Barbara A. McGuirk
Medical Director, Reproductive Surgery
Board Certified: Reproductive Endocrinology and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. Ronald R. Feinberg
Medical Director, IVF Program
Board Certified: Reproductive Endocrinology and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. George Kovalevsky
Medical Director, Academic Affairs
Board Certified: Reproductive Endocrinology and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Reproductive Associates is proud to have some of the finest and brightest endocrine and andrology lab staff, Linda Morrison, M.T. Stacey Carney M.T., Heather Ray B.S., Cai Wang MD, and Caitlin Boylan B.S. who are led by our Lab Director, Marc Portmann, M.T., MHA, Practice Administrator.
Our facility is also home to four of Delaware’s finest practitioners: Susan Carr, CRNP, Nancy Lorber, CRNP, Melissa Aiken PA-C, and Rhonda Wright PA-C.

For your convenience we have 3 locations across Delaware to serve you: Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, Eden Hill in Dover, and Silverside Medical Center in North Wilmington. Please call 302-623-4242 to make an appointment. You can also visit our website at www.reproductiveassociates.org or email us at miracles@reproductiveassociates.org.