What is Infertility?
Infertility is the inability or lack of ability to conceive or become pregnant after around a year of intercourse. Many people are affected by infertility. This can be in both men and women.
Does Age Affect Fertility?
Yes, women are born with a definite number of eggs. Hence, as the reproductive life progress, the number and quality of the eggs starts reducing, and the chances of conceiving or having a baby decreases. This is much greater after 40 years of age.
Vitro fertilization (IVF)
IVF is a procedure in which eggs are fertilized in a culture dish in a lab and placed into the uterus. The woman is administered with gonadotropins to stimulate multiple egg growth. When the eggs are mature, they are collected using a vaginal ultrasound probe with a needle. The collected sperms are washed, and added to the eggs in a culture dish. Few days later, embryos — or fertilized eggs — are returned to the uterus using an intrauterine insemination catheter.
ICSI
In this method of intracytoplasmic sperm injection, the sperms are injected directly into the egg in a culture dish at lab and then placed into the woman’s uterus.
GIFT and ZIFT
GIFT : Just like IVF, these procedures involve removing an egg from the woman, then combining with sperm in a lab and then transferring back to her body.
ZIFT : In ZIFT, the fertilized eggs called zygotes, are placed in the fallopian tubes within 24 hours.