Using In Vitro Fertilization To Overcome Infertility
In vitro fertilization (commonly referred to as simply IVF) is a process of assisted reproduction that provides couples who are infertile a chance to have a baby that is biologically related to them. More than 200,000 babies have been brought into the world using IVF and it is now a fully established treatment for infertility.
With IVF, a man’s sperm and the woman’s egg are combined by an IVF specialist in a laboratory dish. The resulting embryo is then put into the woman’s uterus (womb) and left to naturally develop. Usually, 3 or 4 embryos are placed in the uterus each time. Each attempt is called a cycle, with the cost of each cycle being around $10,000.
Here are some more details of what exactly is involved in each cycle…
The woman will be administered certain drugs (hormones) in order to induce her ovaries to produce several eggs. A surgeon then inserts a needle into the woman’s ovary to remove the eggs. At the same time, a semen sample is taken from the man. He is asked not to have sexual intercourse for half a week prior to the eggs being retrieved from his partner. A laboratory procedure then takes places to separate the sperm from the semen.
Next, the sperm will be mixed in a laboratory dish with the eggs taken from the woman. About 18 hours after this fertilization procedure, it is possible to find out if any of the eggs have fertilized and if embryos have grown as a result. If they have, they are incubated and observed for the next 2-5 days. The doctor then transfers the embryos into the woman’s uterus using a catheter (a long slender tube). The woman is then given a course of hormones to take for the next 10-14 days. If the implantation works (the egg or eggs attach to the uterine wall and grow), a standard pregnancy test result will show as positive.
The success rate of the IVF procedure is 37% for women younger than 35 years, 27% for those between 36-39 years, and 13% in those older than 40 years. Therefore, the final cost of IVF is generally over $20,000, as the odds are against a couple suceeding at their first attempt.
Finally, research has proved that babies born as a result of the IVF procedure are at least as healthy as those born naturally. The only major complication comes in the risk of multiple births happening, with the probablity of giving birth to twins or triplets being noticeably higher.
More : IVF Procedure : A Free Guide
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