Infertility

Department highlights

• Highly acclaimed team of IVF specialists
• Highest success rates in country
• Highly advanced lab with latest IMSI & assisted laser hatching technology
• Complete package of ART including services like egg donation, embryo donation, oocyte freezing

Introduction

Fortis Bloom Fertility Centre offers the latest services with success rates equivalent to the west, at a very affordable cost, but without compromising on quality . This has been possible by making use of the latest equipment, best quality disposable and imported culture media, high class competent service and  economical professional fees. This  objective has enabled our unit to be at the forefront in offering fertility services in India.

Services and Treatments offered

Counseling by well trained & experienced
specialists
IVF /ICSI
Embryo freezing
Semen banking
Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI)
IVM (IN Vitro Maturation)
Egg & embryo donation
Assisted laser hatching
Blastocyst Culture
Oocyte bank
Ovarian tissue banking
Surrogacy

Faq’s

1. What is IVF treatment? Why and at what stage one should consider undergoing IVF treatment?

Ans.  IVF is the Assisted Reproduction Technique(ART), in which union of the eggs and sperms is done in a laboratory dish, and after fertilization, the resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman's uterus. It involves Five Basic Step which are super ovulation (stimulating the development of more than one egg in a cycle), egg retrieval, fertilization, embryo culture, and embryo transfer.

Q2 ART is a treatment option for couples with various types of infertility. It has been successfully used to overcome infertility due to blocked or damaged tubes, endometriosis, repeated IUI failure, unexplained infertility ,poor ovarian reserve, poor or even nil sperm count(through sperm retrieval techniques like TESA\PESA) .

.IVF can be normally performed for counts which are more than 5 million per ml. For counts less than 5 million per ml. ICSI is a better option. In our unit the success  rates of IVF are in the region of 50-60%, which are comparable to the leading units in the world.

2. Enlist the myths associated with IVF treatment?

MYTH: IVF is still risky treatment.

FACT:  The average live delivery rate for IVF is around 40-50 percent per retrieval -- better than the 20 percent chance that a reproductively healthy couple has of achieving a pregnancy and carrying it to term.

MYTH: IVF leads to ovarian cancer

FACT: Numerous studies have now confirmed that medications for IVF are not associated with risk of ovarian cancer.

MYTH: Babies born after IVF treatment are weak or abnormal

FACT: Over  more than 3 million babies have been born  after IVF treatment worldwide  and the risk of any  abnormality  in such babies has not been found to be any more than other babies.The incidence of malformations is  such babies around 2% , which is comparable to that of babies born naturally.

3. What are the complications generally faced by women/men undergoing IVF treatment?

Ans:  Most of the procedures now a days are simple, of short duration and patient friendly, needing a maximum hospital stay being restricted to 4-6 hours. Sometimes the ovaries swell up excessively, leading to fluid collection in abdomen and lungs. This is called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) and may need hospitalization and sometimes removal of the fluid from the abdomen by a procedure called’Paracentesis’

Occasionally  the pregnancy may lodge in the fallopian tubes( ectopic pregnancy)  and may need surgery or medical  treatment for its removal..

Complications can also occur during the egg retrieval  procedure.as the removal of eggs through an aspirating needle entails a slight risk of bleeding, infection, and damage to the bowel, bladder, or a blood vessel.

The risk of multiple pregnancy is about 20percent

4.  How IVF can be a ‘treatment of choice’ considering the costs, problems and advantages in contrast with other medical / non-medical treatments?

Ans: IVF has emerged as the most successful treatment modality for couples who have failed to conceive naturally. In fact women who had ovarian failure or premature menopause  can now conceive using egg donation program which has a success rate of 60% in our  unit. Women with damaged or absent uterus can now opt for surrogacy to have a baby.Similarly men with nil or very low sperm count can father a child using the technique of ICSI. Such couples could have never achieved success without IVF. Even women with blocked or damaged tube who had dismal pregnancy rates even after tubal surgery can  now successfully conceive with IVF, and avoid the trauma and pain of surgery.

5. What are various sub-procedures and latest  techniques which can be used for a particular patient undergoing IVF, depending upon the case type?

.Assisted hatching- In certain women with prior IVF failures, older women , ,women with high FSH levels , the outer coating of embryos called zona pellucida is thickened which prevents the embryos to hatch out and implant in the uterus.In such patients a hole is made in the zona by means of laser beam to assist the embryos to hatch out and hence enable them to implant in the uterus. This is called as  Assisted laser hatching .

Blastocyst Culture- In IVF and ICSI instead of replacing the 4 cell embryos back into the womb on second day after egg fertilization,they are grown for three more days & put back on 5th day after egg removal.On 5th day these embryos have more than 100 cells &are called blastocysts &their transfer increases the chance of pregnancy by additional 10 to 15%.

Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection(IMSI):In this technique the sperm is magnified 7200 times (conventional method magnifies 400 times),it is useful in patient with repeated IVF failures where a low sperm count or a large number of abnormal sperms are present.

6. What are the precautions one has to take while under IVF treatment? Does one have to be more careful than under normal pregnancy days?

• Ans:  IVF treatment is generally very patient friendly nowadays and patients can carry on with their routine activities as usual . Certain precautions that should be observed  during treatment  include
• Avoid excessive  caffeine, smoking, alcohol, and drugs
• Avoid heavy lifting , strenuous exercising  and bouncing activities
• Avoid sexual intercourse and orgasms .
• Once pregnant the patient can lead her normal life , like any other pregnant woman , only  she should be careful to have all her medications regularly and remain in constant touch with her doctor.

7. How much the IVF treatment costs? How the costs differ with the severity of the case?

Ans: The cost of  an IVF cycle has two components one is the procedure cost which is fixed for any ART unit and is usually around 80-90 thousand rupees, whereas the other component is the  drug cost which is essentially the hormone injections that the female has to take for ovarian stimulation .This cost  is variable and depends on the total dose of hormones the patients need for ovarian stimulation . The dose need is lower for  younger  women with good “Ovarian Reserve” and higher for older women , which increases the treatment cost.On an average one IVF CYCLE  cost around 1.4lakhs rupees.

8.. How many times can one go for IVF? Are there any age restrictions for this treatment?

Ans: There is no restriction to the number of attempts for IVF, and women have even
conceived in their  in their 11th cycle , but generally a couple should try a Maximum of 4
attempts of  IVF/ICSI . If one fails to conceive it is advisable to opt for either egg
donation/embryo donation/semen donation/adoption.
There is  no age limit for taking an IVF treatment , as  long as the couple is healthy and
with options of egg donation and embryo donation women can now conceive  even after menopause.