Infertility treatment

1. In vitro fertilization
   

Thanks to revolutionary development assisted reproductive technologies  there was a way to treat infertility, which gave great hope to infertile couples. This is the method in vitro fertilization or in vitro fertilization, which today is the most effective method of treating infertility, helping even in the most hopeless situations. It is used in case of obstruction or absence of fallopian tubes, with male factor infertility, with endometriosis, ovarian pathology, infertility of an unclear cause and other diseases. IVF is also recommended for couples in which other treatments have been ineffective. The sooner a couple turns to IVF, the higher her chances of success, so doctors advise not to continue infertility treatment with other methods for more than 1.5–2 years.

In the IVF program, after the ovarian stimulation, a woman matures several follicles in which the eggs are located. The doctor punctures the ovary and removes the eggs, which are then fertilized by the sperm of the husband or donor outside the mother's body under special conditions. With reduced quality of spouse's sperm, a single sperm is introduced into the egg using a microneedle (ICSI method). After a few days, the resulting embryos are transferred to the uterine cavity of the woman, where they continue to develop.

One attempt at in vitro fertilization gives an average probability of conception of 20-45%, which is even slightly higher than the average pregnancy rate in the usual way. The probability of conception in an IVF program depends on the age of the spouses, their health status, the quality of the drugs and materials used, the number and quality of the embryos received, and some other factors. Failure in one IVF attempt does not mean that this method has proved to be ineffective.

Almost 95% of infertile couples can become pregnant when they undergo several IVF attempts. Modern assisted reproductive technologies, such as IVF and ICSI, have already helped millions of infertile couples worldwide, and we hope that they will help you too.

Causes of infertility in men and women

Every year, an increasing number of couples are faced with the problems of conceiving a child and hear from the doctors a disappointing diagnosis - infertility. At the same time, a tendency to increase the number of infertile couples is noted against the background of improving people's living standards, their material prosperity, and also during the rapid development of science and technology. Despite this, the human reproductive system is getting worse and worse each year from its main task - procreation. At the same time, scientists all over the Earth can not unequivocally answer the question so important and of interest to many people: "What is the main reason for the progressive increase in infertility in different countries of the world?"

Doctors' opinions: ecology, stress, technology, food, lifestyle, GMOs, infections and chronic diseases prevent women from becoming pregnant

So, some experts believe that the blame for the bad ecology, as well as the rapid development of science and all kinds of technologies, others associate the increase in the number of infertile couples with the use of genetically modified foods, as well as the wrong lifestyle. However, there is no single point of view on the causes of this problem.

So, the statistics are disappointing: today about 50-80 million couples are faced with the problem of conceiving a child and from personal experience they know what infertility is. At the same time, doctors are sounding the alarm and report that every year the number of such pairs increases, on average, by 2 million. And here we are talking only about those conscious people who officially turned to specialists for help.

Unofficial statistics show that the actual number of couples suffering from infertility is much greater. Some of them “switch” from this problem to work, others adopt children, and still others have been living with this pain all their conscious lives. And all this happens while hundreds of thousands of specialized clinics, medical centers and hospitals every year more and more effectively struggle with the problem of infertility and give thousands of men and women the happiness of becoming parents of a long-awaited child and fully experience the joy of fatherhood and motherhood.

Experts advise not to despair and not to "sound the alarm" if the first attempts to get pregnant were unsuccessful. Infertility is diagnosed only after a year of regular sexual activity without the use of any contraceptive methods or methods. In the event that a woman is thirty-five or more years old, then it is necessary to think about the presence of any problems and malfunctions in the reproductive system after 6 months of regular sexual intercourse without protection.

What is the cause of infertility and what are the treatment methods?

In the modern world, there is an opinion that infertility is an exclusively female problem, and the impossibility of conceiving a child is directly related to malfunctions of the female reproductive system. However, scientists around the world have long agreed that male infertility is as common as female infertility. The percentage is about 40 to 40 percent. The remaining 20 percent is infertility, the reasons for which have not been established (most often associated with the so-called incompatibility of partners).

Among the main causes of female infertility, experts most often call the following:

• problems with ovulation;
• pathology in the structure and shape of the uterus, as well as fallopian tubes;
• hormonal disruptions;
• endometriosis;
• genetic disorders.

As for male infertility, the predominant majority of problems are caused by impaired spermatogenesis (poor quality of seminal fluid). At the same time, doctors distinguish 3 main forms of male infertility:

• secretory (associated with impaired normal functioning of the testicles);
• obstructive (the cause of the problems is mechanical obstruction to the exit of seminal fluid);
• immunological (when a man’s body itself produces antibodies to sperm).

At the same time, doctors and experts in the field of reproductive medicine do not cease to warn that with age, the risk of infertility increases significantly. Especially when it comes to women, whose fertility is significantly reduced upon reaching the age of thirty. The main reason for this trend is that with age, the female body matures almost 3 times less follicles, and the quality of the eggs themselves deteriorates significantly. In addition, the low quality of female germ cells often leads not only to non-occurrence of pregnancy, but also to spontaneous miscarriages or the birth of a baby with various genetic abnormalities.

For men in this regard, the situation looks much better, because their ability to conceive a child begins to gradually decrease only after 55 years. However, doctors believe that the wrong lifestyle, bad habits, as well as the use of "unhealthy" food in the daily diet can lead to problems in the reproductive system of men at an earlier age.

Diagnosis of male and female infertility

In the event that a couple fails to conceive a child within 1 year of regular sexual relations without the use of contraceptives, then both partners should seek help from a specialized medical institution and undergo a comprehensive diagnosis.
Moreover, the examination process for women and men are two completely different diagnostic processes.

So, in the process of studying the state of health of the reproductive system of women, the following mandatory studies are carried out:

• study of the condition of the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes;
• diagnosis of hormonal disorders;
• laboratory tests for the presence of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as other genitourinary infections.

In the process of diagnosing the state of the male reproductive system, the main analysis is a spermogram, which allows you to assess the quantity and quality of sperm in the seminal fluid, their motility and other characteristics. In the event that the spermogram shows any abnormalities in the quality of sperm, then the man may be prescribed other methods of research and diagnosis to more accurately determine the causes of infertility.

In addition to the comprehensive diagnosis of both spouses, as a rule, many couples are assigned special tests for biological and immunological compatibility.

Assisted Reproduction Methods (MVR)

MVR (assisted reproduction techniques) - the main way to treat various forms of infertility

In recent years, reproductive medicine has taken a solid step forward, as a result of which new effective methods of assisted reproduction have appeared that allow treating infertility of various forms and types.

Over the past three decades, the main MVR has been IVF - in vitro fertilization (in vitro in vitro fertilization). Reproductologists in different countries of the world are very familiar with this assisted reproduction method and effectively use it in practice.
The “in vitro fertilization” procedure itself consists of several main stages, each of which has long been worked out by specialists in the field of reproductive technologies, and consists of:

• the process of stimulating the ovaries and ovulation in a woman with the help of special medications;
• the process of egg collection in women and seminal fluid in men;
• sperm fertilization of the egg in the laboratory;
• control the growth and development of embryos;
• transferring the most “successful” embryos to the uterine cavity (usually in the amount of three pieces).

IVF

Despite the fact that the IVF procedure itself is a standard sequence of steps and processes, each human body is unique. That is why doctors use an individual approach to each couple and prescribe special medications and the timing of each stage of IVF individually.

To date, a large number of specialized medical institutions dealing with the problems of infertility treatment using assisted reproduction methods have effectively used IVF to treat various forms and types of both male and female infertility. Moreover, the effectiveness of this method is confirmed by tens and even hundreds of thousands of children around the world who were born precisely thanks to this method. Despite the success of treatment, the overall effectiveness of IVF does not exceed 40 percent. That is why specialists in the field of reproductive technologies are constantly working on issues of increasing the number of successful cycles of artificial insemination. To do this, in recent years, quite often used the tactics of planting in the uterine cavity not “young” 3-day-old embryos, but more “mature” 5-day-old ones. This tactic allows you to more reliably determine the prospects for the further development of the embryo in the body of a woman.

In addition, other MVR, the list of which in each medical institution may be different, can increase the effectiveness and number of successful artificial inseminations.

ICSI

In the event that conception problems are caused by malfunctions of the male reproductive system, the most commonly used MVR is ICSI, which is the direct insertion of the sperm into the egg. Moreover, this method is often combined with the above-mentioned IVF. However, numerous studies have shown that to date, the MVR ICSI does not allow a reliable assessment of the state of spermatozoa, but allows them to be studied only superficially.

IMSI

Scientists have developed a new, more effective MVR called IMSI, which allows you to more closely examine male germ cells and identify any abnormalities in their structure.

NIPT-VT non-invasive prenatal test - determination of possible fetal chromosomal diseases by maternal blood test

To establish the likelihood of a couple having a child with various genetic disorders and abnormalities, doctors conduct the so-called pre-implantation genetic diagnostics, as well as comparative genomic hybridization. Read more about the NIPT-VT test.

Both the first and second methods allow you to examine in detail the embryo for the presence of genetic abnormalities before it is planted in the uterus of a woman. These methods can increase not only the effectiveness of IVF, but also minimize the risk of self-abortion, but also practically reduce to zero the probability of having a baby with genetic disorders.

The specialized clinic "IGR" offers several effective programs that can significantly increase the effectiveness of the treatment of various forms of female and male infertility, as well as minimize financial risks and losses of each couple.

Terms:
Assisted reproductive technologies - all treatment methods and procedures associated with the processing of eggs and sperm for pregnancy. ART includes: intrauterine insemination, IVF, cryopreservation of embryos, donation of eggs and embryos, surrogacy.

In vitro fertilization is a method of treating infertility in which the eggs are removed from a woman’s ovaries and are fertilized by the sperm of the spouse (donor) in an embryological laboratory. The resulting embryos are transferred to the woman’s uterus.

Follicles are a structural component of the ovary containing an egg. In each menstrual cycle, a woman grows one follicle, in which the egg “matures” in parallel.

The egg is a female reproductive cell.

The ICSI method is a phrase made up of Latin roots: intra = in, in, cytoplasma = cell contents, spermium = sperm. The method of artificial insemination, in which one single sperm is injected into the egg using the thinnest microneedle.

An embryo is an ovum fertilized by a sperm and having passed at least one division
.