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 In
Vitro Fertilization
On July 25, 1978 the
first IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) girl was born
in the world. Today, the IVF is a very common
and has become a very successful method to
surpass infertility, especially in those cases
where other methods have failed.
IVF is the process in which
several Eggs (oocytes) are recovered from the
woman´s ovaries; they are placed in culture
medium with the sperm to be fertilized outside
the human body, in a controlled environment.
Some of fertilized eggs are placed the in the
woman´s uterus to wait for implantation and
further development of pregnancy. The rest of
the fertilized eggs can be vitrified (frozen) or
can be donated.
Who is a candidate for IVF?
Patients that have their
fallopian tubes obstructed, even those who have
already been operated to correct this but after
two years have not been able to get pregnant.
Male infertility is also an indication for IVF,
as well as immunological causes, endometriosis
or in cases where there is no apparent
infertility cause. IVF is also used when the
patient requires egg donation. A woman over 38
years old with problems to conceive should
consider seriously to summit herself directly to
an IVF, especially taking in consideration the
important role that woman´s age play in getting
pregnant.
Pregnancy Rates with IVF
In
2001 CER reported a pregnancy rate in a started
cycle of 36%, which means that from every 100
cycles performed 36 patients got pregnant. The
pregnancy rate of transferred embryos was 38%.
The Red Latinoamericana de
Reproduccion Asistida (REDLARA) presented a
result of the IVF procedures in Latin America
for the 1999 year, as follows:
CLINICAL
PREGNANCIES RATE MATCHING THE
NUMBER OF TRANSFERRED EMBRYOS
WITH IVF PROCEDURES
Number
of embryos
Transferred |
Clinical pregnancy
rate |
|
1 |
11.5% |
|
2 |
27.5% |
|
3 |
33.8% |
|
4 |
36.1% |
|
5 |
35.1% |
|
>6 |
38.2% |
CLINICAL PREGNANCY RATE
TO THE AGE OF THE WOMAN
IN IVF PROCEDURES
|
Woman
age |
Clinical Pregnancies Rate |
|
< 35 años |
35.5 % |
|
35-39 años |
29.5% |
|
> 40 años |
18.4% |
Both scales represent the number of born
lived babies for each cycle of follicular
aspiration and embryo transfer accordingly
to the number of embryos and the woman’s
age.
CLINICAL MULTIPLE PREGNANCY RATE
BY NUMBERED OF EMBRYOS TRANFERED
IN IVF PROCEDURES
CLINICAL PREGNANCY RATE
BY WOMEN AGE
IN IVF PROCEDURES
Number
of embryos
Transferred |
Clinical Pregnancies Rate |
|
1 |
0.0
% |
|
2 |
14.4% |
|
3 |
27.9% |
|
4 |
28.6% |
|
5 |
43.6% |
|
>6 |
44.0% |
Only 3% of pregnancies obtained with IVF
result in ectopic pregnancies. Twenty percent result in
spontaneous abortions; this is a similar rate as the one
observed in patients with no infertility problems. IVF does not
increase the rate of malformations. The development and growth
of IVF children are normal.
Even when the possibilities of success with the IVF decrease
after three consecutives cycles, approximately 50% of the women
with less than 35 years obtain a live birth in six cycles. A lot
of couples consider that after three cycles the emotional,
physical and economic consequences are very difficult to bear,
so it is necessary to think in adoption or in egg or embryo
donation. Patients should understand that sometimes spontaneous
pregnancies happen after IVF failure treatment.
Maybe after a long road, you would find that IN VITRO
FERTILIZATION is the solution to your infertility problem.
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