Happy new year! I was watching an Instagram video from someone with no training or experience or expertise or credentials of any kind this week. I made the mistake of watching the video for too long and now my algorithm is filled with snake-oil salesmen and people who declare themselves as holistic-nutrition-chiro-doctor-psycho-reiki therapists who have the simplest, yet expensive, cure for all my vague discomforts. I did it to myself.
Anyway, the video that caused the chaos in my algorithm did speak to me. It spoke to the resources we have in our lives: relationships, money, health and time. Most of us, fortunately, do not consider health as a resource for the first few decades of our lives and even longer for many people. Infertility changes this. Suddenly you are in your 20s, 30s or 40s realizing your (reproductive) health is a problem and you need help. The model of help in fertility is fairly straight forward:
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Realize you are infertile or need help conceiving
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Look inward - how are my menstrual cycles, how is my general health, have I had issues with my reproductive system (e.g. an infection) in the past?
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Talk to your doctor and get a referral to an infertility clinic
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Do the testing they recommend and take your supplements
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Talk to the infertility specialist
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Make a plan
In 2026 the plan for the majority of patients is IVF. Why such an invasive and expensive treatment first?
Honestly, I’d rather people get pregnant with lifestyle changes, maybe a minor surgery or some pills to regulate the periods. I’d love it if intrauterine insemination (IUI) was all you needed. I treat patients like I’d want to be treated and I would not want to do IVF first. I’d like to explore less invasive and expensive options…. 100%. That problem? Less invasive and less expensive options have a much, much lower pregnancy rate AND time puts pressure on us to be more aggressive with our treatment choices than we’d like.
IVF treatment is getting more and more effective over time too.
What are some trends in IVF treatment that help increase your chance of success:
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AI. I’m tired of hearing about the promise of AI but not really knowing what that practically means, you? Ok, in the IVF lab AI is truly helping and is being used today. AI is helping us select the best eggs and embryos, AI is helping with quality control and identifying trends in the lab that we can’t see without it. It is making the lab better.
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Continue to increase use of natural cycle or modified natural cycle frozen embryo transfer protocols. Studies over the past 2 years show similar pregnancy rates and fewer pregnancy complications like hypertension when a natural cycle protocol is used
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Mosaic and segmental aneuploid embryos. When an embryo undergoes a biopsy and testing (called Preimplantation Genetic Testing PGT) we get results that historically were either “chromosomally normal” or “chromosomally abnormal.” Now we are getting more detailed results with mosaics (some of the cells having abnormal chromosomes and some having normal) and segmental (small sections of a chromosome being abnormal). It makes for tougher decisions for patients who may want to use these embryos but the scientific literature is catching up with the laboratory reporting so we can advise patients better about the success rates and health of children born from these embryos
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IVF Funding. This is big. The BC provincial government starting funding IVF cycles for many people in July 2025. The roll out was challenging as there were many unanswered questions (donor eggs? Age cut off at time of enrolment or treatment? Wait times?), but ultimately the provincial health plan is providing public funds for hundreds of patients to access IVF. The wait times being long, though, does mean that those patients with the least time left often cannot access the funds in time to be helpful. Looking ahead the federal liberal government promised public funding for IVF in their list of election promises and we are waiting to hear how that might help our patients.
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Penthrox. In 2025 we started using this inhaled gas more often to help women with the pain of procedures like hysteroscopy, endometrial biopsies and even egg retrievals. It certainly helps but is not as good as full IV sedation. It has a role to help decrease a person’s pain which is an important step as women’s pain has often been downplayed or left unaddressed. We’ll be using it more and more in 2026.
2026 is looking bright. Steady improvements in several areas of patient care month after month, year after year are how we are going to make infertility curable for everyone one day. Let’s keep at it!
Best wishes for 2026
Dr. Beth Taylor
