Fertility Treatment
There are several different treatment options to help people suffering from infertility and the options that are best for you will depend on your personal situation and the cause of your infertility.
Fertility treatments often include medications that help with hormones and ovulation, sometimes combined with minor or major surgical procedures. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) describes several kinds of procedures performed in a laboratory, that can help you to conceive. ART includes procedures that make it easier for sperm to fertilize an egg, and help the embryo implant in your womb.
In intrauterine insemination (IUI), concentrated sperm cells are injected directly into a woman’s uterus. It makes the trip shorter for the sperm and avoids any possible obstructions e.g. Cervical mucus.
A procedure in which eggs are extracted from a woman’s ovary and fertilized with sperm outside the body to form embryos. The embryos are grown in the laboratory for several days and then either placed in a woman’s uterus or cryopreserved (frozen) for future use.
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection forms part of an IVF cycle but the fertilization process is different in that a single sperm cell is injected directly into an egg. This technique is used primarily in couples that suffer from male infertility.
Egg donation is the process by which a young healthy woman (usually anonymous) donates her eggs to another person (recipient) for the purpose of creating embryos via in vitro fertilization. These are then transferred into the recipient’s uterus to ultimately result in a pregnancy.
Donor eggs are typically used in cases of early onset menopause or advanced maternal age, when no (or very few) eggs are present in the ovaries.
Before being able to donate, egg donors undergo various medical screening assessments to ensure that quality, healthy egs will be donated.
Donor Sperm Insemination is a fertility treatment that involves using a sperm donor to conceive. Insemination typically refers to intra-uterine insemination (IUI) with a donor but can also be used as part of an IVF cycle.
Donor sperm is typically used in cases of severe male infertility, when no alive sperm cells are available for fertility treatment.
Before being able to donate, sperm donors undergo various medical screening assessments to ensure that quality, healthy sperm will be donated.
Testicular Sperm Extraction is a surgical procedure in which a small portion of tissue is removed from the testicle and any viable sperm cells from that tissue are extracted for use in further procedures, most commonly Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) as part of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)
Surrogacy is a pregnancy in which a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for another person who is not able to carry a child. Eggs from the biological mother are fertilized with sperm from the biological father and the embryo transferred into the womb of the surrogate that will carry the baby to term.
Conditions and procedures related to Fertility Treatment
- All Articles
- Abnormal Uterine Bleeding
- Endometriosis
- Fibroids
- Hysteroscopy
- Infertility
- Laparoscopy
- Myomectomy
- Recurrent Pregnancy Loss