A study has found that a natural fertility technique called ‘restorative reproductive medicine’ (RRM) has a success rate among the group of women sampled of over 50pc. Unlike IVF, the technique does not involve the destruction of human embryos.

The study said 74 out of 128 women who completed RRM at Neo-Fertility, a treatment clinic based in Dublin, gave birth to full-term healthy babies after two or more failed IVF treatments. The study had 403 participants but 275 dropped out before the two-year RRM treatment was complete. The average age of female participants was 37. RRM is a scientific approach that seeks to co-operate with or restore the normal physiology and anatomy of the human reproductive system. It does not use artificial insemination or approaches that seek to make a baby in vitro, or outside the body, and neither does it involve the creation, freezing or destruction of multiple embryos. Instead it seeks to address directly problems such as endometriosis, polycystic ovaries and fibroids so that fertilisation may then occur through natural means.

Dr Phil Boyle, medical director of Neo Fertility and lead researcher on the study, said it offered “fresh hope” for older women with fertility problems. He said that the cost of most RRM treatments was about €1,650, which is a third of the cost of one IVF treatment.