Chennais first cytoplasmic transfer twin babies

CHENNAI: After three failed in-vitro fertilisation procedures, Sheila (name changed) was told that her eggs were of  poor quality and it was likely that she would have to use donor eggs if she wanted to get pregnant.  On September 16, 2011, she gave birth to twins - one boy and one girl - and she had used her own eggs.This was possible due to a procedure called cytoplasmic transfer, which has been performed only in two other places in the world, and has successfully been done for the first time in India, at Chennai.  The process is usually done on women with poor quality eggs. This results when the cytoplasm, which provides nutrition to the cell, is not good enough for the foetus to develop. The cytoplasm of a good quality egg is added to the cytoplasm of an inferior quality egg to boost the chances of the egg getting fertilised. The procedure was conducted at the Miracle Advanced Reproductive Centre, by Dr MD Kini and Dr PSR Murthy. Explaining the procedure at a press conference, Dr Kini said that the good cytoplasm can be taken from the biological mother herself, or in extreme cases, a donor egg can be used. “The nucleus which contains the chromosomes and genetic material will be the same. The child will genetically be theirs, and is also better accepted socially and genetically. It is also psychologically favourable,” he said.The procedure costs a little over Rs 2 lakh. There are certain downsides to the procedure. It is a highly laboratory-intensive process, and requires skilled personnel. This leads to additional cost. Also, in the case of using a donor egg, a complete DNA analysis will show traces of mitochondrial DNA of the donor. Dr Murthy, who has been conducting this procedure successfully for the past nine years in other parts of the world, said, “Our team has assisted several women with this problem. Our first CT baby is now eight years old. We hope to help more such women with this procedure.” Women who have benefitted by the other methods of assisted reproductive technology were also present at the press meet.