Good Morning, today is a bright day as sun rays are beaming through the green cover While sitting quietly through the counselling session, only one consistently asked question was playing in my mind,”
Does every patient require IVF?
So, Let’s dive straight to the answer, absolutely no, Not every patient needs In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
While elaborating on the topic, Does every patient require IVF, infertility concerns, age, medical records or past history have its importance.
Only infertility concern is the most evident & all are eager to find out the success attached with it.. Every case of infertility is unique. In simple terms, Infertility is the difficulty in conceiving a pregnancy after trying unsuccessfully for a year or so without contraceptives. This does not address the underlying cause or nature of infertility, as infertility could be temporary or permanent in nature.
Infertility is not an issue, it has many medical conditions as the underlying causes & is treatable if diagnosed well in time. Infertility, like many other medical diagnoses, can be of varying severity, like mild, moderate & severe ones.
Women who are struggling with pregnancy, face a wide range of emotional outbreaks & this stress is heartbreaking and impacts every aspect of health.
Let’s hit the problem first: “infertility is not an issue but a medical problem of the reproductive system of the couple and it is treatable.”
Infertility may be due to medical conditions like low egg reserve, low quality of eggs, tube defects, sperm issues, and uterine abnormalities that are proven and that can be checked by various means. A recommendatory blood test for the couple along with sperm analysis is the most advised one.
Desperate trying for pregnancy along with failure to get one is a chaotic condition.
The couple often lands up in fertility clinics to find the most solution and types of treatments available.
Here’s the truth – IVF is the most effective fertility treatment available, accessible & affordable today, meaning it has the highest success rates, but it is not the only one. There are other options available for pregnancy.
Let’s see, Number of the treatments available to achieve pregnancies & which are as follows:
- Ovulation monitoring:
Ovulation monitoring is a natural process with vigilant expert guidance. Having timely intercourse during the fertile window or period is the most effective way to achieve pregnancy. The simplest procedure is careful monitoring of periods to achieve pregnancy and not a treatment as such, but if done in consultation with the doctor, along with a few blood tests, and a vaginal ultrasound to see how close you are to ovulation and can instruct you to have sex with a partner at the optimal time.
This option is helpful for couples, who are not conceiving due to wrong timings of sexual intercourse.
The ‘fertile window’ is different for every lady. The ‘fertile window’ is the day an egg is released from the ovary and the five days before that. During this time, uterus is in receptive form & sperm mating can cause pregnancy.
Ovulation Induction:
The next option is ovulation induction, which is when, you are given oral medication, such as Clomiphene, to help in ovulation. The doctor will do a vaginal ultrasound and predict ovulation, and have timely sex at that time. This medicine-driven ovulation is intended for women having irregular cycles or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
This PCOS is a multi-factorial disorder involving many factors & can cause irregular menses.
There are many good medicines available that help women conceive. These fertility medicines are strictly prescription based & should be taken under the guidance of registered medical practitioners.
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI):
One more step in fertility treatment is IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) after ovulation monitoring and ovulation induction. IUI is most helpful for men where sperm motility is a matter of concern. “IUI is the full-proof solution for unexplained infertility, endometriosis, or male factor infertility.”
In general, IUI does two things:
Medications are given to increase the egg counts, so increasing the chances of her fertility.
Then, via the injection, the sperm is inserted inside the uterine cavity, so it can escape the travelling path.
During the procedure, the male partner is asked for a semen sample about an hour before IUI. Sperms are then cleaned off unwanted matter which, increases fertility chances.
Insemination is usually a few minutes pain-free procedure. The doctor will pick the healthy sperm and place sperm through the catheter into the uterus. This is an almost patient-friendly technique.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
The finest and most widely performed treatment is IVF, which is In vitro fertilization. IVF has the highest pregnancy success rates and is the most advanced and evolved of all treatments.
IVF is specifically for the Women with PCOS, Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR), endometriosis, and severe male factor infertility, such as low sperm count and motility.
While IVF is technologically and medically advanced, the treatment itself is not very simple. IVF, in simple terms, is, the union of sperm and egg outside of the body (in the laboratory) which gets developed into an embryo and get transformed into a woman’s uterus as pregnancy.
During IVF, a woman is given, medication to increase the egg count in the ovaries.
About 10-12 days later, the eggs are removed, & immediately, her mature eggs will be fused with her partner’s sperm to create embryos.
Doctors will transfer normal embryos into a uterus via a catheter, and a week later, pregnancy tests will be performed.
This simply means every couple is different. This simply means that IVF is not the only option. Together with the fertility team, every couple can go for the right treatments.