Couples usually think about the in vitro fertilization procedure when it is impossible to find out or eliminate the cause of infertility. Before deciding on it, you should find answers to all questions: what is the essence of IVF, what are the possible adverse consequences, whether the child will be healthy and how much does artificial insemination cost.
The essence of the ECO method
The IVF method is as follows: the woman's eggs are removed from the ovaries, placed in a test tube and fertilized with the partner's sperm. Then the embryos are implanted into the uterus, the woman carries on the pregnancy and gives birth to the baby. It all sounds simple, but to get viable embryos, you have to comply with many conditions.
The first of them is that several embryos must mature at once for a successful replanting. To this end, for two weeks, a woman makes herself subcutaneous injections of hormonal drugs that stimulate ovulation. As a rule, it is diferelin at a dosage of 0.1 mg, from the second day of the cycle. The finished eggs are extracted using a puncture, which is relatively painless and less traumatic.
Before the IVF procedure, a woman is recommended to drink piroxicam, which improves blood circulation in the pelvic area. It increases the chances of successful embryo attachment.
Several embryos are always implanted to increase their chances of survival. As a result, IVF pregnancies often become multiple pregnancies. If there are too many embryos or the woman does not want to carry twins, doctors can remove the extra ones. However, the intervention significantly increases the chances of the death of the remaining embryos and miscarriage.
Embryos are inserted into the uterus in the least traumatic way - using a flexible thin catheter, through the vagina and cervix. It doesn't hurt at all and is fast. The essence of IVF is that the artificially created embryo then lives a normal natural life - it attaches to the wall of the uterus and begins to grow.
After placing a fertilized egg in the uterus, hormone therapy is also needed - in this case, to reduce the production of hormones and prevent hyperstimulation of the body.
Test tube babies
The procedure for combining the egg and sperm is carried out using modern equipment in the embryological laboratory. The cells are combined in a special saline solution, and the result is visible after a few days.
Highly qualified doctors use electron microscopes and special programs to control the resulting embryos. Chromosomal diseases, developmental abnormalities and other possible pathologies are identified. Such embryos can also be obtained during natural fertilization, in which case they are discarded at the initial stages by the woman's body. If you artificially implant a defective embryo in a woman, it will also come out with the next menstruation - but the attempt will be wasted, and IVF is not cheap, so doctors are trying to increase the chances of success.
IVF advantages and disadvantages
The advantages of IVF are quite obvious - an infertile couple has the opportunity to become pregnant and give birth to a child. True, the effectiveness of IVF is only 35-49%, but this may be enough. It is difficult to predict in advance, some women get pregnant the first time, others only from the tenth.
It is often impossible to do artificial insemination for various reasons. Firstly, hyperstimulation of the female body is harmful and repeated hormone therapy is possible only after 2, 5-3 years. A little consolation - the embryos are saved and you can repeat their replanting in six months.
Secondly, IVF is quite expensive, the procedure itself is about 100-200 thousand rubles, plus payment for hospital expenses and medications. Not every family can afford such a pleasure, even if they really want a baby. And the preliminary selection of embryos, their testing for the presence of genetic diseases is also a paid service, it costs from 50 thousand rubles.
The future parents have a lot of doubts about whether the IVF children will be healthy. If in Russia this practice has taken root relatively recently, then in Western countries it has been operating for more than 30 years, and the first test-tube children have grown up and become parents themselves. The following data have been accumulated: test-tube babies are less likely to be healthy, they have 30% more congenital pathologies, they are more likely to suffer from oncological diseases and infertility.
Perhaps the reason lies in the genetics of the parents (it's not just that they turned out to be infertile), or the effect is exerted by increased hormone therapy. By the way, it is not very useful for a woman either - the hormonal background goes astray for several years, various formations, fibroids and cysts appear. To reduce the influence of the second factor, some women decide on the natural maturation of eggs, but it should be understood that the chances of getting pregnant are reduced several times.
Another point regarding the possible infertility of IVF children. It should not be forgotten that they were conceived more than 20 years ago, when technology did not yet allow the determination of congenital pathologies and chromosomal abnormalities. Today, medicine is moving forward rapidly, and by choosing the right clinic, you can significantly increase the chances of success.
