Treatment of infertility

IU I ( Intra uterine insemination)

Intra uterine insemination is therapeutic procedure wherein the semen of the husband is collected in sterile container, processed in the laboratory, and then instilled into the uterus of the woman. Semen preparation leads to selection of only highly motile sperms and direct instillation into the endometrial cavity increases the chances of the sperm fertilizing the egg. The timing of IUI is done by regular monitoring of the follicular growth in the woman by ultrasonography. When the follicle is mature an injection is usually given to trigger ovulation and then IUI done after 24- 48 hours.

Many cases of unexplained infertility, Mild endometriosis, , cervical factor, mild male factor etc conceive by IUI.

IVF (In vitro fertilization)

IVF is an advanced assisted reproductive technique where the male and female gametes are fertilized outside the body, embryo formed and transferred into the uterine cavity. It    was initially considered a treatment of choice for tubal factor infertility, but subsequently expanded to include PCOD, Endometriosis, advanced maternal age, Male factor,  unexplained infertility etc . The female partner undergoes controlled ovarian stimulation by use of gonadotropin injections. Dose of the injections are adjusted by monitoring the woman by ultrasonography and also monitoring the blood hormone levels. Once the follicles become mature, Eggs are retrieved by a procedure called OPU(ovum pick up) by use of transvaginal ultrasound guided needle aspiration of the follicle under general anaesthesia.

ICSI is a micromanipulation technique developed to achieve fertilization for couples with severe male factor infertility or couples who have or had fertilization failure in a previous IVF attempt.  In this procedure a morphologically normal appearing sperm is selected and injected into an individual egg by use of a micro manipulator. Fertilization achieved by this method is higher than in conventional IVF procedure.

Embryos are cryopreserved either on day 2/ 3 or day 5/6. Embryo cryopreservation for a particular case is decided after complete retrieval of the oocytes. In cases where there are chances of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome, endometrium is not well prepared or there is problem with embryo transfer etc , no fresh transfer is done and all embryos are vitrified for later use. In cases where fresh transfer is done, all extra embryos are vitrified.

Success of egg freezing has tremendously increased after the advent of verification.  Social freezing can be done in women who are delaying marriage and want to conserve their fertility. Freezing can also be done in patients undergoing cancer therapy which has the potential to damage the ovaries like chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc. We at Global fertility centre do both social freezing and freezing in cancer patients.