Book contents
- Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby
- Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 From Oldham and Cambridge to the Rest of the World
- 3 The Lecture, 1979
- 4 The Professional Reminiscence, 2019
- 5 The Local Reminiscence
- 6 The Legacy
- Index
- References
3 - The Lecture, 1979
‘Pregnancies Following Implantation of Human Embryos Grown in Culture’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2023
Book contents
- Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby
- Presenting the First Test-Tube Baby
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 From Oldham and Cambridge to the Rest of the World
- 3 The Lecture, 1979
- 4 The Professional Reminiscence, 2019
- 5 The Local Reminiscence
- 6 The Legacy
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter transcribes in full the groundbreaking lecture given by Edwards and Steptoe at the RCOG on 26 January 1979. The historical context is evoked by having the original images of the slides that the lecture spoke to inserted at the places where they were referenced, as they were essential for purposes of illustration. A scholarly set of notes is appended to help readers understand the text from the vantage point of four decades later, citing other relevant medical, scientific, pharmaceutical and biographical work.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Presenting the First Test-Tube BabyThe Edwards and Steptoe Lecture of 1979, pp. 48 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
See Chapter 2 for Edwards’ method of delivering conference papers.Google Scholar
Sir Edward Anthony John Alment (1922–2002), President, 1978–81. www.rcog.org.uk/en/about-us/history-of-the-college/presidents-of-the-rcog/, accessed 21 June 2018. For RCOG officers and council for 1979, see RCOG. RCOG Annual Reports 1976–1982: Fifty-First Annual Report. London, 1979; p. 2.Google Scholar
See RCOG Archives London, file E10/8A/4 for papers associated with this lecture. It was set up by Vivian Green-Armytage, vice president of the RCOG (1949–52), ‘to … cement more closely the bonds of friendship between the British Empire and the United States of America’. The lectureships were to be ‘on subjects of sterility and sub-fertility and … Obstetrics and Gynaecology’. Steptoe made an application for the award which was accepted on 5 December 1969. His presentation on ‘Recent Endoscopic Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of the Infertile Couple’ occurred on 25 September 1970 and included a section on ‘Recovery of Human Oocytes and Their Utilisation’. See also RCOG. Annual Reports 1976–1982: Fifty-Second Annual Report. London, 1980; p. 17.Google Scholar
For patients treated between 1969 and 1978, detailing drug and surgical interventions they received, see E&J, Supplementary Table.Google Scholar
Steptoe, PC, Edwards, RG. Reimplantation of a human embryo with subsequent tubal pregnancy. The Lancet 1976;307(7965):880–82. See also Littleton F, Bewley S. Honouring ‘patient 38’ – a mother of all IVF mothers? Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online 2019;8:7–9.Google Scholar
Mr Holmes, Nursing Officer, Kershaw’s Cottage Hospital, Turf Lane, Royton, Lancashire. Steptoe and Edwards had used the facilities there since June 1971: ML, p. 120; Hargreaves, GM. Dr Kershaw’s Cottage Hospital Royton. Privately published, 1999; pp. 31, 38.Google Scholar
For drugs, hormone assays, culture media compositions, etc., see Elder, K, Johnson, MH. The Oldham Notebooks: an analysis of the development of IVF 1969–1978. III. Variations in Procedure. Reproductive BioMedicine and Society Online 2015;1(1):19–33, and supplementary material.Google Scholar
Romero, R. Giants in obstetrics and gynecology: a profile of Bruno Lunenfeld , MD, FRCOG, FACOG (hon). American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2018;219(3):225–34; for C. Gemzell and A. C. Crooke, see the bibliographies in Gemzell, CA, ‘Ovulation’, and Crooke, AC, ‘Human Gonadotrophins’, in Philipp, EE, Barnes, J, Newton, M, eds. Scientific Foundations of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. London: Heinemann Medical, 1970; pp. 131–33, 495–508. See also notes in Steptoe PC, Edwards RG. Laparoscopic recovery of preovulatory human oocytes after priming of ovaries with gonadotrophins. The Lancet 1970;295(7649):683–89.Google Scholar
‘Talbot et al’, slide 27. A Dr James Mackenzie Talbot, who was involved in the IVF research programme in Australia, alongside the British endeavour, was said to have visited Steptoe and Edwards during their Oldham days. Leeton, J. Test Tube Revolution: The Early History of IVF. Melbourne, Australia: Monash University Publishing, 2013; pp. 3–4;Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
Culture media mentioned in relation to early in vitro fertilisation work includes those by Ham, Tyrode, Earl, Whittingham, Whitten, Hank, Bavister and Waymouth. For culture media used by Edwards’ team, see Bavister, BD. Environmental factors important for in vitro fertilization in the hamster. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 1969;18:544;Google ScholarGoogle ScholarGoogle ScholarGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar
The first embryo transfers occurred in December 1971; E&J, p. 15.Google Scholar
For publications by Enders, see, amongst other items, Enders, A. Cytology of human early implantation. Research in Reproduction 1976;8(5):1–2;Google ScholarGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar
See note 17.Google Scholar
Ages of patients, where known, are listed in E&J, supplementary table.Google Scholar
P38; see E&J, supplementary table, pp. 47, 49, 52.Google Scholar
For details of natural cycles, see E&J.Google Scholar
Killip, M. A test for detection and determination of low levels of HCG and LH. New Zealand Journal of Medical Laboratory Technology 1974;28(2):49–50;Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
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Saxena, BB, Saito, T, Said, N, Landesman, R. Radioreceptor assay of luteinizing hormone-human chorionic gonadotropin in urine: detection of the luteinizing hormone surge and pregnancy. Fertility and Sterility 1977;28(2):163–67;Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
This is ‘Patient 1’ in CA, p. 759. P264, Mrs Lesley Brown, baby Louise; E&J, supplementary table, pp. 71, 75.Google Scholar
As it was recently the beginning of a new year, this refers to August 1977, not 1978.Google Scholar
A paper report was perhaps held up to show the audience at this point.Google Scholar
‘Presumably a verbal slip; this was correctd to ‘XX’ in the printed paper, CA, of 1980’.Google Scholar
Illustration 3.70 is left blank in the RCOG archives. Copy preserved in EDWS 5/3/2 part 1 of 2.Google Scholar
This is ‘Patient 2’ in CA, p. 761. P267, E&J, supplementary table, pp. 76, 79, 82.Google Scholar
This is ‘Patient 3’ in CA, pp. 763–65. P268, E&J, supplementary table, pp. 78, 81.Google Scholar
Bewley, S, Littleton, F. How should we honour and memorialise the experimental subjects who gave their hopes and lives to the development of IVF in Britain in the 1970s? British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2016;123(9):1566.Google Scholar
This is ‘Patient 4’ in CA, p. 765. P247, E&J, supplementary table, pp. 77, 83. Mrs Grace Montgomery/Macdonald, baby Alastair.Google Scholar
Dr Kevin Moore and Dr Finlay Campbell assisted Steptoe at Dr Kershaw’s Cottage Hospital. Moore stated ‘there were two separate aspects of Kershaw’s. … One was the “maternity ward in waiting” … run for Mr Steptoe’s fertility patients and at the other end, the normal business being conducted for the GPs’ patients. … Steptoe negotiated with the Management Committee to use part of … Dr Kershaw’s … one wing of the In-patient beds, eight or nine at the most’. Hargreaves, GM. Dr Kershaw’s Cottage Hospital Royton. Privately published, 1999; pp. 31, 33, 38.Google Scholar