Infertility treatment

What causes infertility? Why You? What should we do to become parents?

We are with you! Today, infertility is not a sentence! We will help you to make your dream of giving birth to a healthy baby come true!

It is necessary to seek help from a specialist if pregnancy has not occurred within a year of active sexual life without using contraceptives (if spouses are over 35 years old, this period is reduced to 6 months).

Do not be afraid of the word "infertility." This is just a definition of the temporary state of the body. The sooner a thorough examination is carried out and treatment is started, the shorter the path to the birth of a long-awaited baby for future parents will be.

Types and causes of infertility

Difficulties with conception can be caused by problems with reproductive health on the part of both men and women. In addition, sometimes when a decrease in fertility is detected in both spouses a combined factor is detected.

The doctor diagnoses:

primary infertility if the couple has never been able to conceive a child;
secondary infertility, if the pregnancy occurred at least once (regardless of outcome of the pregnancy).

A variety of factors may be underlying causes for the decline in reproductive function.

The main causes of female infertility include:

obstruction and dysfunction of the fallopian tubes;
endometriosis, when the cells of the uterine mucosa spread outside its cavity, forming foci;
cervical factor, when due to the features of the cervical mucus, the movement of spermatozoa through the female genital tract becomes almost impossible;
pathological changes in the uterus, which can be either congenital (for example, Rokytansky-Küstner syndrome), or acquired (for example, due to the formation of myomatous nodes);
endocrine problems.

Male infertility can develop due to the fact that the process of spermatogenesis is disrupted (secretory form) or there are obstacles on the way of spermatozoa that do not allow them to reach the female genital tract (obturation form). In addition, reproductive function decreases if anti-sperm antibodies (ASAT) are produced in the body, which negatively affect the motility of the gametes and complicate the process of egg fertilization.

Sometimes infertility is associated with emotional problems of patients. In such cases, the help of a perinatal psychologist may be recommended.

Infertility Treatment Methods

Conservative therapy is effective if, for example, a woman has no ovulation in a cycle or a man’s spermogram shows a slight decrease.
Surgery can be indicated in case of varicocele, uterine fibroids, endometriosis and a number of other pathologies.
If the diagnosis revealed more complex forms of infertility, assisted reproductive technologies come to the rescue.

Modern treatment of infertility in men and women

intrauterine insemination

With the cervical factor, artificial insemination will help - a method that is as close as possible to the natural process of conception. In this case, doctors only deliver specially treated sperm to the patient’s uterine cavity, and then male sex gametes must fertilize the egg on their own.

IVF

The IVF method involves the fertilization of an egg outside the patient’s body. Doctors get female gametes as a result of follicle puncture. Then the oocytes and sperm are mixed in a Petri dish. The came out embryos cultivated for several days in a special incubator, after which one or two of them are transferred to the uterine cavity of the patient.

IVF is effective if there is a violation of the patency or function of the fallopian tubes, endometriosis, pathology of the endocrine system, immunological factor. In addition, the indication for the procedure is idiopathic infertility, when it is not possible to identify the causes of decreased fertility. In vitro fertilization is also recommended if the woman is in advanced reproductive age, because over the years the number of eggs decreases and their quality deteriorates.

ICSI

Intracytoplasmic injection of sperm into the oocyte is indicated for severe male infertility factors. In this case, the embryologist first selects the gamete with the best characteristics, and then, using micro-tools, places it in the oocyte cytoplasm.

Donor programs

If the patient’s sex cells cannot be used in the ART cycle for a number of reasons, donor programs are used to treat infertility: sperm donation or egg donation.

Surrogacy

The method of surrogate motherhood is recommended if a woman due to health reasons cannot independently bear and give birth to a child.

The cost of infertility treatment

The cost of treatment depends on the method of overcoming infertility, and the choice of the optimal method is conditioned by those pathologies that underlie the reduction of reproductive function. As a rule, the sooner patients come to a doctor for help, the easier detected problems can be corrected.

Infertility Treatment Facts

Contrary to the opinion of many patients, infertility treatment does not necessarily imply the use of high-tech methods (ART). Often, to restore fertility, weight loss, hormonal adjustment, and lifestyle changes are sufficient.

Infertility is treated by fertility specialist, not gynecologists.

The duration of infertility treatment is individual for each patient and is more dependent on age and medical history.

The likelihood of conception is reduced both with excess weight and with excess thinness.

Give up bad habits will increase the chances of pregnancy, because smoking and caffeine abuse (more than 5 cups per day) increases the probability of infertility by 1.5 times, and alcohol consumption of more than 20 g of ethanol per day increases the risk of infertility by 60%.

Avoid stress. Periodic and chronic stresses lead to increased levels of cortisol in the blood, which in turn reduces the likelihood of conception. What can help? Meditation, calm music, prolonged sleep, relaxing massage and laughter can reduce the level of cortisol (stress hormone).