What are the other treatment options for infertility apart from IVF

By Dr. Shobha Gupta 

There has been immense change in the IVF technology itself. New methods for treating infertility have been introduced in recent years like; 

1) Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), is an assisted reproductive technology used to treat male infertility. This technique involves washing of the sperm and injecting the specially prepared sperm into the egg obtained from IVF 

2) Intrauterine Insemination (IUI); a procedure in which sperm is washed, concentrated, and then placed directly into the uterus. It is a relatively simple form of infertility treatment. It might be used unexplained infertility in males and females. 

3) Frozen Embryo Transfer(FET) It is a part of IVF process. Main part of IVF is the ET which is called Embryo Transfer which usually takes 10 to 15 days to be injected in woman’s womb. Spare embryos from your IVF treatment can be frozen for future use, depending on their quality. Embryos can be stored for up to ten years for future treatment if your first cycle was unsuccessful or for siblings. 

4) Hormone Replacement Therapy in which some of the hormones like estrogen and progesterone gets replace that are reduced during and after the menopause;

if irregular, nonexistent, or abnormal ovulation is preventing from achieving pregnancy, hormone therapy can be used to promote ovulation. This makes it one of the most common fertility treatments besides IVF.   

5) Egg donation is an essential process of IVF. Treatment involves recruiting egg donor, who agrees to undergo stimulation with injections for approximately14 days. It is followed by egg collection, donor eggs are mixed with husband sperms to form embryo. Two Embryos are transferred in women less than 40 years and three embryos in women more than 40 years. The remaining good quality embryos are kept frozen for future use. 

6) Last but not the least lifestyle changes like diet, exercise, and staying stress free is very important to conceive naturally.