Infertility Treatments

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), according to WHO, refers to infertility treatments where both eggs (oocytes) and sperm are handled ex-vivo to achieve pregnancy. In conventional ART procedures, the oocytes and sperms are combined in a laboratory ex vivo (i.e. outside the human body) and the resulting embryo (mature and fertilized oocyte) is implanted back into a woman.

ART’s includes techniques such as In-vitro fertilization (IVF), Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (GIFT) or Zygote Intra-Fallopian Transfer (ZIFT) .

What is Infertility

Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system caused due to the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse [1]. In simpler words, it is the state of not being able to produce offspring. In female, it is the inability to conceive, and in male it is the inability to impregnate.

The four major causes for infertility can be classified into:

    1. male factor
    2. female factor
    3. combined male and female factor
    4. unexplained

Approximately 40% of infertility cases are due to female factor, 40% due to male factor, and 20% due to a combination of both.

According to the 2017 statistical analysis, in India there are about 30 million couples with infertility as shown in the following Figure.

Figure 1. IVF Scenario in India

References:

  1. F. Zegers-Hochschild et al. http://roboicsi.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=5&action=edit

%d bloggers like this: