Fertility treatments

what causes infertility?

some women have low levels of FSH (the hormone that stimulates an egg to mature)

how do we initially fix infertility?

we give the woman FSH in pill form to help their eggs mature then we give them LH to stimulate ovulation, most of the time this is all it takes to restore infertility however if this doesn't work we do IVF

what are the stages of IVF?

- Giving a woman FSH and LH to stimulate the release many eggs, fertilising the egg with sperm from the father in a laboratory

- the eggs are then placed in an incubator and left to grow into embryos ( to provide optimum temp for enzymes and thus cell growth)

- inserting one or two of the embryos in to the woman's uterus, then the embryo should go on to form a foetus

what are the advantages of IVF?

- can allow infertile couples to have kids
- we can remove single cells from embryos and test for diseases

what are the cons of IVF?

- Multiple births can happen if more than one embryo grows into a baby: so more dangerous for mother and baby

- Higher risk of miscarriage and stillbirth

- Success rate is low (around 26% success rate in the UK)

- Emotional and physical stress for the woman

- Can have a strong reaction to the hormones e.g abdominal pain, vomiting, dehydration

- ethical issues as leftover embryos are destroyed

- can lead to designer babies where people pick babies with ideal features as new microscope tech also shows eye colour etc.