ART IVF

In vitro fertilization has enabled thousands of couples to have children. IVF is routinely used in appropriate couples by fertility clinics throughout the world. IVF success rates have increased markedly over the last several years.

ART IVF

Success Rates

A couple’s first concern is usually: “What are my chances of taking home a baby?” Dependent upon the cause(s) of infertility, advanced technologies are usually not needed. Simple ovulation enhancement with oral medications is effective in 20-30% of infertile couples. If more aggressive therapy is needed, intrauterine insemination (IUI) is often a good relatively low cost treatment option.

In KTTBC’s intrauterine insemination (IUI) program, up to 23 % of patients will achieve pregnancy in each treatment cycle with an estimated cumulative pregnancy rate greater than 50% within three treatment cycles depending on the ovulation induction protocol used. Many patients, even those with long standing infertility, don’t require in vitro fertilization (IVF). Ovulation induction and IUI provide good success rates at much lower cost for most patients. The rate of pregnancy after IVF procedure is also remarkable. In our hands, the procedure gives approximately 30% pregnancy rate which at par of international standards. Protocols are planned and made available to suit all pockets without compromising on quality and results.

ART Procedure

In IVF, the eggs are fertilized outside of the body or in a petri dish. Numerous eggs are required for IVF and FSH is administered by injection to cause the development of multiple follicles, each of which contains an egg. IVF cycles are controlled by the infertility specialist using various fertility drugs such as FSH, Lupron/Antagon, hCG, and others. Patients are monitored throughout the IVF cycle using ultrasound and estradiol hormone measurements. Once the eggs mature, they are retrieved from the ovaries using transvaginal guided ultrasound under light sedation.

After retrieval, the eggs are combined with the husbands sperm and fertilization occurs. In some cases of male infertility, a single sperm is injected directly into each egg using ICSI. When appropriate, other procedures such as assisted hatching or PGD may be employed.

Donor Egg

The donor egg procedure brings new hope to women who cannot use their own eggs to become pregnant. Women are born with a lifetime’s supply of eggs and each month one of more eggs mature within the ovarian follicles and are ovulated. Candidates for the donor egg program include those who have undergone cancer chemotherapy or high dose radiation, have premature ovarian failure, natural menopause, decreased ovarian reserve, decreased egg or embryo quality, multiple failed IVF cycles, undergone removal of the ovaries, unexplained infertility, or for the prevention of genetic disease. Egg donors undergo extensive physical and psychological testing to insure their suitability as egg donors.

Donor Embryo

While most couples would initially prefer to have children using their own eggs or sperm, due to numerous factors beyond their control many couples find that this is not possible. For couples where both the wife and the husband have significant fertility factors decreasing their chances for conception, this is a wonderful alternative in addition to traditional adoption. Many couples consider the use of a donor embryo a very early adoption. A good example of an ideal couple would be a husband who has no sperm (azoospermia) due to lack of sperm production (sertoli cell only syndrome, testicular cancer, chemotherapy, etc) and the wife has poor egg quality due to advancing reproductive age or premature menopause. Some couples prefer the use of a donor embryo over the use of donor sperm or donor eggs. Donor embryo allows the couple to experience the wonder and joy of pregnancy, labor and delivery while allowing the wife to carefully control the pregnancy environment.

Cryopreservation

The purpose of egg cryopreservation (freezing) is to preserve unfertilized eggs for fertilization using IVF at a future date. Eggs retain their “fertility capacity” present at the time of harvesting. If a woman freezes her eggs at 25 years of age, she can use them when she is older. Most experts believe that the eggs will still have the fertilization capacity that they did when they were frozen.