"Infertility" is the wrong word
Today in Ukraine, the label "infertility" for every fourth pair. Doctors believe that if a woman does not become pregnant during a year with a regular intimate without protection, it's time to begin examination and treatment of both spouses. 12 months is not a random period: statistics show that in a third of healthy pairs conception occurs in the first three months without contraceptives, another 60% - during the next seven, the remaining 10% - after 11-12. "But we, the doctors, do not like the term" infertility. " We prefer to say "a temporary inability to conceive," because in most cases doctors are capable of this inability to correct. " For this, there is the method of IVF. Its essence - to give an opportunity to meet the egg and sperm, and the resulting embryo to place in the womb of the woman. Let it develop as with natural conception. But in advance it is necessary to go through several stages of the examination - after all, parents are waiting for a healthy baby, and for this it is necessary that both mother and father are healthy.
Necessary examination
"When a married couple addresses us, we first examine a man. If the cause of the inability to conceive is in his body, further more careful actions will be directed at the future father. If it's all right with him, the next object of our attention becomes a woman. " Diagnosis of a man: genetic studies (in 30% of men who suffer from infertility, they find genetic disorders that interfere with fertilization); spermogram (an estimation of quantity and quality of spermatozoids) - it is desirable to do it not less than three times in the same laboratory; US scrotum (whether there are physiological abnormalities); delivery of smears from the urethra for infections; Have hormonal examinations. Diagnosis of a woman: hormonal analysis (is the level of sex hormones okay); giving smears from the vagina for infections; Ultrasound of the uterine cavity; test-contact of sperm with cervical mucus (do not sperm cells get bogged down in it); check the patency of the fallopian tubes (with the help of a contrast medium, which is injected into the uterine cavity).
Contraindications to IVF
• Mental and somatic diseases, in which you can not give birth.
• Congenital or acquired developmental or deformities of the uterine cavity, making it impossible to implant the embryo.
• Tumors of the uterus and ovaries.
• Acute inflammation of the genitals.
What's wrong?
Today, doctors have about 32 violations in the body of men and women who do not allow the couple to have children. But they are all related in one way or another to the five conditions of conception: a woman should have ovulation (1 egg out of the follicle). Slime cervix should be unimpeded, skip sperm. The fallopian tube (at least one) must be present and passable so that the meeting of the egg and spermatozoon becomes possible. Mucous uterus (or endometrium) should be of high quality, so that the embryo can attach to the wall of the uterus and develop further. Spermatozoa must have active mobility (at least half of them) and the total amount - not less than 5-10 million in 1 ml of sperm. If at least one of these conditions is not met, doctors can recommend IVF.
Preparation
6-11th day of the menstrual cycle - check the status of the uterus (the place of attachment of embryos) and in the presence of abnormalities their correction (on this depends on how successfully the conception and bearing of the baby will pass). 19-24 day - a woman brings all the certificates with the results of a survey of doctors: gynecologist, therapist, infectiologist, mammologist. Doctors examine the condition of the uterus and inject a drug that neutralizes the hormonal regulation of the ovaries. After 2 weeks - ultrasound of the uterus and ovaries. Then drugs with FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) are connected to stimulate the growth of follicles in the ovaries for 12-14 days. All this time, doctors are watching their growth to adjust the dose of the drug. After 12-14 days - the day of sampling of eggs is appointed. Under general anesthesia, a woman is pierced by the side wall of the vagina, a thin needle without a cut of the abdomen is taken from the contents of the follicles and under the microscope they look for the egg in the follicular fluid.
Hour X
The egg is placed in a special cup with a liquid simulating the uterine tube environment. This container is placed in an incubator where the temperature is constantly maintained at 37 ° C, and the liquid is further enriched with carbon dioxide, like carbonated (simulating the buffer capacity of human blood). Then the man hands over the sperm, which physicians treat with special solutions for two hours (that all sperm are active, and their number - not less than the norm). If the sperm counts are normal, this fraction is added to the egg. If it happened that there are not enough spermatozoa, the doctors purposefully introduce only one, the strongest and healthy one (enough puncture of its wall with a thin needle). The dish with the cells is placed back in the incubator and after 16-18 hours, the zygote is formed - 2 nucleoli, male and female, each containing 23 chromosomes. They merge, and if at least one nucleus is superfluous - there is a pathology, it is necessary to repeat the experiment again. And then the X-hour: on the 2nd-2nd day the embryo with the 4th or 8th cells of the best quality is transferred to the uterus by a catheter. This is done without anesthesia, because the procedure is painless and takes no more than 5-10 minutes. At this time, a woman lying in a gynecological chair, can see the whole process on the monitor screen. Superfluous embryos are frozen in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 ° C - suddenly the steam will turn again. Two weeks later, the woman undergoes a pregnancy test and, in case of luck, comes to the clinic another two weeks later to find out whether the embryo is securely attached. That, in fact, and the entire procedure IVF. The frequency of pregnancy is 52-72%. Complicated? Of course! But the result - a happy family - is worth it.
Not all ages are submissive ... conception
"If there are problems with the ability to conceive, it is advisable for a woman to go to the clinic for up to 35 years. The fact is that the ovule women are so many years old, how many to herself. For all this time, their quality is deteriorating because of age-related changes, unfavorable ecology, bad habits, diseases, improper movement and nutrition. " The best period for pregnancy is 20-35 years. After 35, the chances of conceiving a baby are 2 times lower, and after 40 years - only 15-20% of the probability of becoming pregnant. Men were luckier: their spermatozoa are updated every 72 days (this phenomenon is called spermatogenesis). Therefore, even in a deeply advanced age, our macho can provide quality material for fertilization.
Living Capital
Some do not want to wait until old age, considering their sperm to be capital, and they do it right: how little chance has life prepared for us! Sperm (and egg, too) can be frozen for up to 10 years or more. The benefits of such actions are proved by the Englishwoman Diana Blood. At the age of 29, she became a widow, but four years later, thanks to the frozen seed material, the spouse gave birth to a son, and after another three years - a second. At the request of Diana, the British court found both babies legitimate, although their father had long been dead. Europeans generally use the opportunity to store their eggs frozen for the purpose of unhurried and, most importantly, the qualitative choice of the spouse. Most of the belgians surveyed before the age of 38 reported that this gives them the opportunity to calmly pursue a career and not to hurry up with marriage.