On the occasion of CREA’s twenty fifth anniversary, the assisted reproduction medical centre in Valencia brings together more than a hundred specialists in reproductive medicine on 27th and 28th September.  

The conference “New challenges in Reproductive Medicine” that is celebrated by CREA extraordinarily, is born with the aim of analyzing the scientific and social impact of assisted reproduction techniques, in a historic moment that marks the 40th anniversary of the first test tube baby.

The debate will be conducted by leading medical specialists, embryologists, genetists and researchers, nationals and internationals. Among these: Dr. Silvina Bocca (Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, USA) , Dr. Jaime Gosálvez (Autonomous University of Madrid), Dr. Raúl Sánchez (University of la Frontera, Chile), Dr. Xavier Vendrell (Sistemas Genómicos, Valencia) and  Drs. Carmen Calatayud Lliso and Miguel Ruíz Jorro, CREA’s founders.

“This conference is really special for us. Indeed it gives us not only the opportunity of analyzing and debating the new challenges in reproductive medicine worldwide, but it also provides us the possibility of stressing out the importance of an adequate diagnosis for each infertile couple, on the basis of current scientific knowledge and technological progresses in the field of infertility. Our final aim is to share a clear message: we have to reduce the necessary time for patients to obtain the birth of a healthy newborn”, as explained by Dr. Ruiz Jorro, CREA’s co-director and Head of the Andrology Unit. 

Despite the advances in assisted reproduction treatments, the clinical management of infertility still implies big challenges for reproductive medicine’s professionals. 

“Nowadays we know that genetic is a key factor in the diagnosis and subsequent success of reproduction treatments. The knowledge of our whole genome sequencing allows revealing the effect and relevance of certain genes associated with full term viable pregnancies. The availability of this information is generating some changes in clinical practice, as well as in the approach of medical advice when performing a fertility treatment”, stresses out Dr. Carmen Calatayud Lliso, CREA’s co-director. She also adds: “For this reason, identifying the cause of infertility is the main factor in order to offer a targeted and tailor-made medical performance for each case.” 

During the conference, different topics of clinical relevance will be discussed, such as embryo implantation (moment of the encounter between the embryo and the maternal uterus) whose success depends on different factors of maternal, paternal and embryonic origin. Another topic will also be the performance of Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), a study that allows specialists to identify genetic differences, not only among morphologically identical embryos, but also among human cells of the same embryo. PGD is a key factor for clinical decision-making.  

An important part of the conference will be exclusively dedicated to the analysis of male infertility, as well as to the management of reproductive risk due to male factor alterations, not only from a clinical aspect but also on a molecular level, associated with the transmission of certain diseases to descendants. 

“The advanced study of male factor is especially important after the discovery of specific causes of paternal origin associated with infertility. After so many years focusing only on the female analysis (responsible in the 35% of infertility cases), we currently know that the male is equally responsible in the 35% of the cases. Thus, for each reproductive project we ¡suggest a necessary and equivalent analysis of both members of the infertile couple”, concluded Dr. Ruiz Jorro.