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The birth of Louise Brown through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 1978 was a major milestone in infertility treatment. It dramatically changed the treatment options for infertile couples, and techniques for assisted reproduction have evolved rapidly since then. In a short span of 20 years, IVF has become the cornerstone of reproductive medicine, and IVF clinics today routinely perform techniques that were thought to belong to the realm of science fiction a generation ago!
This chapter will help you understand assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as IVF and Gamete Intra-fallopian Transfer (GIFT) that are now standard medical treatments for infertility. A few years ago, these techniques were used as methods of last resort, when everything else that had been tried had failed. Today, specialists will often resort to these techniques first, since they offer such excellent results, rather than waste the patient's time and money with the traditional ineffective options.
Today, thanks to IVF technology, there is practically no infertile couple that cannot be offered treatment. However, as with all technology, you need to understand exactly how it works, and when it should be used.
IVF is the basic assisted reproduction technique, in which fertilization occurs in vitro (literally, in glass). The man's sperm and the woman's egg are combined in a laboratory dish, and after fertilization, the resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman's uterus. The five basic steps in an IVF treatment cycle are superovulation (stimulating the development of more than one egg in a cycle), egg retrieval, fertilization, embryo culture, and embryo transfer.
IVF is a treatment option for couples with various types of infertility, since it allows the doctor to perform in the laboratory what is not happening in the bedroom - we no longer have to leave everything up to chance! Initially, IVF was only used when the woman had blocked, damaged, or absent fallopian tubes (tubal factor infertility). Today, IVF is used to circumvent infertility caused by practically any problem, including endometriosis; immunological problems; unexplained infertility; and male factor infertility. It is a final common pathway, since it allows the doctor to bypass nature's hurdles and overcome its inefficiency, so that we can give Nature a helping hand!
© Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and Dr. Anjali Malpani www.drmalpani.com
Credits: How to Have a Baby: Overcoming Infertility
