Why Choose IVF?
Like any other infertility procedure, in vitro fertilization (IVF) can only succeed where indicated. How can you know if IVF might help you? Here's an outline of some of the conditions that IVF may be able to overcome:
*Male Infertility—In most cases of male factor infertility, the current treatment of choice is IVF in conjunction with an ICSI procedure. ICSI involves sperm microinjection.
Laparoscopic Diagnosis
*Tubal Infertility—IVF can be helpful when the fallopian tubes are damaged or obstructed. A diagnosis of this condition is made through laparoscopy.
*Endometriosis—Where endometriosis is severe, there may be pelvic adhesions that affect the form of a woman's pelvis so that an obstruction is created that prevents conception by natural means. In mild endometriosis, there may be ovulatory dysfunction leading to changes in the peritoneal fluid that causes killer cells to attack and kill sperm.
*Ovulatory Disorders—Most ovulatory disorders can be corrected by medication. But in some cases, this type of treatment is just not enough to help a woman conceive. In this case, IVF is a good bet.
Saves Time
*Idiopathic Infertility—In treating the patient with infertility of unknown cause, the physician may suggest IVF without any further ado to save time and heartache. In such cases, IVF may even prove to help generate a diagnosis for the couple's infertility.
*Immunological Infertility—No one knows just how immunological infertility works, but physicians have found that IVF often solves the problem.
*Failed Donor Insemination—IVF is considered the next step after having failed to conceive following 6 cycles of intrauterine insemination (IUI) with donor sperm. The conception rate with IVF triples that of IUI with donor sperm.
*Egg/Embryo Donation—In the case where a woman has no ovaries, or her ovaries never developed as they should, or in the case of premature ovarian failure (POF), or when the eggs are deteriorating as a result of age, IVF is sometimes performed in conjunction with donor eggs or embryos.
*Embryo Biopsy—Sometimes IVF is used as a diagnostic tool. Today's researchers can diagnose a whole slew of inherited diseases from a single cell taken from a 3 day-old embryo. The physician can use this technique to weed out the females or males that are unaffected by a particular inherited disease so that only these are used in the IVF transfer process. At this stage, the number of chromosomes can already be counted and the genes separated to be studied for any abnormalities.
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