What is IVF Treatment?

What is IVF Treatment?

In-vitro-Fertilization (IVF) is a common infertility treatment. During the procedure, a fertility doctor takes the eggs from the ovaries using a small needle and fertilizes them with sperm in a specialized lab. After fertilization happens, the eggs develop into embryos. Three to five days later, the specialist re-implants the embryos back into the uterus.

How is IVF Treatment done step by step?

IVF involves 6 main stages:

1. suppressing your natural cycle – the menstrual cycle is suppressed with medication
2. boosting your egg supply – medication is used to encourage the ovaries to produce more eggs than usual
3. monitoring your progress and maturing your eggs – an ultrasound scan is carried out to check the development of the eggs, and medication is used to help them mature
4. collecting the eggs – a needle is inserted into the ovaries, via the vagina, to remove the eggs
5. fertilising the eggs – the eggs are mixed with the sperm for a few days to allow them to be fertilised
6. transferring the embryo(s) – 1 or 2 fertilised eggs (embryos) are placed into the womb

Once the embryo(s) has been transferred into your womb, you’ll need to wait 2 weeks before taking a pregnancy test to see if the treatment has worked.

What is the success rate of IVF Treatment ?

While younger women have higher chances of IVF success, factors that reduce the chances of IVF success include being an older womanwith fewer eggs and the lower quality of an older woman’s eggs.Women with the best chances of IVF success have rates of 40 percent or more per cycle, while the majority of women have per-cycle success rates of 20 to 35 percent, according to RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association. There is no guarantee that your first cycle will work.

What does the IVF Treatment cost?

If a patient requires advanced technological assistance in IVF, the cost can go much higher. For instance, an ICSI treatment will require an additionalRs. 1,50,000 to Rs. 2,50,000. An FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) procedure will cost patients aboutRs. 1,20,000, apart from the IVF cost in India. Visit the link above for a detailed cost assessment.

Why would IVF Treatment fail?

A failed IVF cycle can unleash an overwhelming torrent of emotions. Going into the cycle, you felt anticipation and building excitement, hoping this will be when your family starts, and worry at the same time. Will it work? When a cycle fails, you and your partner may feel grief and even anger. What went wrong? Is it someone’s fault that IVF didn’t work? Should you try again? It’s normal to grieve for this loss, but try not to blame yourself or your partner. Chances are the failure is not due to anything you could control. Your fertility specialist will explain what may have happened and what you can do next. Here are some common reasons why an IVF cycle fails.

Embryo Quality
The major reason why an IVF cycle is not successful is embryo quality. Many embryos are not able to implant after transfer to the uterus because they are flawed in some way. Even embryos that look good in the lab may have defects that cause them to die instead of growing. In nearly all cases, it’s not that your uterus has something wrong with it so you can’t carry a baby. The embryo doesn’t implant because it is not healthy enough to grow.

Age of the Eggs
When it comes to IVF, the age of the eggs is more important than the age of the woman having IVF treatment. The quality and quantity of a woman’s eggs, known as her ovarian reserve, begin to get worse as she gets older. This affects her chances of success with IVF as well. On average, only about 25 percent of transferred embryos go on to result in live births of babies. But this greatly depends on the age of the woman’s eggs. Women under 35 using their own eggs for IVF have an implantation rate of about 45 percent. Women 40 to 42 years old using their own eggs have only about a 15 percent chance of implantation.

Older women who use donor eggs, which are donated by younger women, have success rates with IVF that are nearly the same as those of younger women. Egg quality is all-important to having healthy embryos, and younger eggs usually have better quality.

Ovarian Response
Sometimes a woman’s ovaries don’t respond to the fertility medications strongly enough to produce multiple eggs. Especially if a woman is over 37 or has higher FSH levels she may not produce enough eggs to result in a number of embryos for screening and potential implantation. Chances are higher that IVF will fail when this happens. Your reproductive endocrinologist will evaluate what happened and may make changes to your fertility medications for the next IVF cycle.

Chromosomal Issues
One of the major factors in IVF failure is chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo. This is true for all human embryos, whether naturally conceived or developed in the embryology lab. These abnormalities are the reason behind most miscarriages as well as failure to implant in an IVF cycle. Studies have shown that starting in their 30s, as women age, the incidence of choromosomal abnormalities in their eggs begins to increase. By the mid-40s as much as 75 percent of a woman’s eggs have chromosomal abnormalities. A man’s sperm develops more chromosomal abnormalities as he ages as well, but at a much lower rate than a woman’s eggs. It’s unfair, ladies, but it’s true.

If you’ve had a failed IVF cycle, your fertility specialist may recommend PGS, preimplantation genetic screening, for your next IVF cycle. PGS tests a few cells from an embryo to determine if the correct number of chromosomes are present. The Fertility Clinic’s Skills and IVF Lab Quality IVF is a science but it’s also an art. Are you better off with an experienced reproductive endocrinologist with a long track record, or a new young doctor just off fellowship training who may be at the cutting edge of practice? What are the practice’s success rates with women your age? Does the lab have a good reputation and experienced staff? Do you feel comfortable that your doctor is listening to you and is addressing your concerns? Before you commit to a second IVF cycle, assess how you and your partner feel.

Lifestyle Factors
Many fertility clinics require women to stop smoking at least three months before starting IVF treatment. Women who smoke need twice as many IVF cycles to conceive and are much more likely to miscarry than women who don’t smoke. Women who are overweight or underweight are less likely to have successful IVF treatment. The bottom line is, maintain a healthy weight. If you are overweight,losing as little as 10 percent of your body weight can make a positive difference in your ability to get pregnant.

What are the risks of IVF Treatment?

Specific steps of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle carry risks, including:

• Multiple births. IVF increases the risk of multiple births if more than one embryo is implanted in your uterus. A pregnancy with multiple fetuses carries a higher risk of early labor and low birth weight than pregnancy with a single fetus does.
• Premature delivery and low birth weight. Research suggests that use of IVF slightly increases the risk that a baby will be born early or with a low birth weight.
• Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Use of injectable fertility drugs, such as human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), to induce ovulation can cause ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, in which your ovaries become swollen and painful.Signs and symptoms typically last a week and include mild abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If you become pregnant, however, your symptoms might last several weeks. Rarely, it’s possible to develop a more-severe form of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome that can also cause rapid weight gain and shortness of breath.
• Miscarriage. The rate of miscarriage for women who conceive using IVF with fresh embryos is similar to that of women who conceive naturally — about 15 to 25 percent — but the rate increases with maternal age. Use of frozen embryos during IVF, however, may slightly increase the risk of miscarriage.
• Egg-retrieval procedure complications. Use of an aspirating needle to collect eggs could possibly cause bleeding, infection or damage to the bowel, bladder or a blood vessel. Risks are also associated with general anesthesia, if used.
• Ectopic pregnancy. About 2 to 5 percent of women who use IVF will have an ectopic pregnancy — when the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube. The fertilized egg can’t survive outside the uterus, and there’s no way to continue the pregnancy.
• Birth defects. The age of the mother is the primary risk factor in the development of birth defects, no matter how the child is conceived. More research is needed to determine whether babies conceived using IVF might be at increased risk of certain birth defects. Some experts believe that the use of IVF does not increase the risk of having a baby with birth defects.
• Ovarian cancer. Although some early studies suggested there may be a link between certain medications used to stimulate egg growth and the development of a specific type of ovarian tumor, more recent studies do not support these findings.
• Stress. Use of IVF can be financially, physically and emotionally draining. Support from counselors, family and friends can help you and your partner through the ups and downs of infertility treatment.

What is an alternative to IVF Treatment?

Homeopathic Assisted Reproductive Treatment [HART] protocol from Welling Clinic is a non-invasive & a natural alternative to IUI and IVF, that has proven to be extremely effective for close to a decade at our clinics. In our past experience, we have experienced hundreds of patients with repeatedly failed IVF cycles from prominent IVF centers in Mumbai, getting positive results of natural conception within 1-2 cycles of  HART protocol. Homeopathic Medicines gently stimulates the natural processes in male and female reproduction system to help your own body correct the imbalances and repair the natural conception process. HART protocol is very effective in tackling various causes of infertility in both male and female. Compared to conventional treatments, both hormonal and artificial insemination, HART Infertility treatment has a far better success rate.