fertility treatment

• If a woman has low levels of FSH, their egg won't mature properly.

  • To help their eggs mature, FSH can be given in the form of a pill.
  • They can then be given LH to stimulate ovulation.

  The woman can then go on to become pregnant naturally.
• IVF means in vitro fertilisation.

  • "in vitro" means outside the body.
• [ IVF - Stage 1 ] The woman is given FSH to mature the eggs and LH to stimulate ovulation.
• [ IVF - Stage 2 ] Mature eggs are collected from the ovaries and fertilised by sperm from the father.

  • This is done in a laboratory.

  If the man has a low sperm count, ICSI is used where the sperm is injected to the egg with a tiny needle.
• [ IVF - Stage 3 ] The fertilised eggs are placed into an incubator and left there to grow into embryos.
• [ IVF - Stage 4 ] The embryos are taken out of the incubator and inserted into the mother's uterus.

  • The embryo can then grow into a foetus.
• [ Strength ] IVF allows infertile couples to have children.
• [ Weakness ] IVF does not always work.

  • In the UK, the chance of success is just 1 in 4.
• [ Weakness ] IVF can be stressful and emotionally upsetting.

  • It can also be physically unpleasant as a lot of women get abdominal pain and vomiting.
• [ Weakness ] In IVF, many eggs have to be inserted so this often leads to multiple births such as twins or triplets.

  • This gives a much higher risk of complications such as miscarrage and still-birth.
• [ Weakness ] IVF often results in unused embryos that are eventually destroyed even though they had the potential to life.

  • Therefore, some people think the process is unethical.
• Microscope technology has allowed;

  • The success rate for IVF to be higher.
  • Us to remove single cells from an embryo to test for diseases or find out a certain characteristic, such as their gender.

  [ Weakness ] Some people believe this may lead to 'designer babies' where we pick which one we like most (this is currently illegal in the UK).
• Embryos are kept in an incubator while in the laboratory to provide the optimum temperature for enzymes and thus cell growth.