Handheld Fertility Device 'As Good As IVF'

A handheld fertility device, developed by former students of Cambridge University, is as effective as IVF for couples struggling to conceive, it has been claimed.

The DuoFertility system measures variations in body temperature to identify when a woman is most fertile.

The 495-pound device, dubbed the 'sat-nav of the fertility world', is claimed to be statistically as good as IVF.

Its developers, Cambridge Temperature Concepts, even promise to give couples their money back if they are not pregnant within 12 months of using the gadget.

DuoFertility combines a small sensor that fits under the arm and a hand-held reader that together can measure body temperature 20,000 times during the night to identify when a woman is at her most fertile.

It stores the data, which is then downloaded at the touch of a button to the reader and CTC claims it is 99 per cent accurate.

Couples trying to conceive can then check their fertility up to a week ahead and get their data analysed by a team of CTC fertility experts.

The data also helps highlight any medical problems that doctors can miss in women trying for a baby.

The findings were delivered this week in Moscow to the World Association of Reproductive Medicine by Dr Oriane Chausiaux, chief scientific officer for DuoFertility.

She told the conference how the DuoFertility programme of research resulted in a pregnancy success rate of 19.5 per cent after six months, which is as effective as IVF.

"We are delighted that Oriane has been given the opportunity to present our significant findings at this event," the Daily Mail quoted Dr Shamus Husheer, the inventor of DuoFertility, as saying.

"What we now know, as a result of our work, is that for certain causes of infertility, DuoFertility is as effective as IVF. Clearly there are some infertility issues where the use of the device is unable to aid pregnancy, such as a complete lack of sperm.

"However, for a range of common causes such as moderate male factors, cycle irregularity and secondary or unexplained infertility, our monitoring device is achieving great results," Husheer added.

Source: ANI