ASRM 2025: Frontline of Reproductive Medicine
The 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine took place in beautiful San Antonio, Texas 2 weeks ago, by the wondrous Riverwalk. As is every year, it was a meeting of education, enlightenment, great food, fun and, last but not least, pride for Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMANY) and US Fertility.
The meeting kicked off with a plenary session on optimal fertility preservation and oncologic treatment for cancer patients, which are symbols of resilience, similar to the Alamo in San Antonio. With advances in both cancer and fertility treatments coupled with appropriate choice and timing of treatment and proper hormonal modifications, having their desired family is not a farfetched dream for most cancer patients.
The symposium on paternal age and the Reproductive Urology Keynote brought attention back to the implications of male infertility in multiple aspects: Is an abnormal semen analysis the tip of iceberg for more severe health problems for men? And potential adverse effects of advanced male age on the offspring, from mental health problems like schizophrenia and autism to genetic imprinting disorders.
On the second day of the conference, attendees learned more about the history and most recent advancements on uterine transplantation. Uterine transplantation provides women who don’t have a uterus the possibility of experiencing pregnancy. Since the first successful birth in 2014 in Sweden, there have been more than 100 uterus transplants performed worldwide with more that 70 successful live births.
Finally, are segmental aneuploidies really the new mosaics? The presentations on the outcomes of transfers of embryos carrying segmental aneuploidies showed that live births without birth defects are possible with transfers of these embryos. The studies are preliminary – success rates are lower, as expected, compared to euploid and mosaic embryo transfers – but, nevertheless, the data provide hope for patients who don’t have any other embryos for transfer.
RMANY participated in the meeting with 33 presentations, most likely the highest number of abstracts from a single center. We had 7 candidates for prize papers and received 3 prizes. Actually, the first and second oral presentations that kicked off the conference were given by our fellow, Dr. Michelle Bayefsky, which is a rare feat. This is the result of RMANY’s commitment to the advancement of science, the tireless efforts of our fellows, research team and our faculty, but most importantly, the commitment to our patients – to find the best possible treatments to help them achieve their dreams of creating a family. We celebrated our achievements by the peaceful serenity of San Antonio Riverwalk, with tasty food and great company from RMANY, RMANY – Long Island, and RMA Mexico!
Although the meeting concluded recently, we have already scheduled our brainstorming session for the next week and we are looking forward to another productive and successful academic year!