treating infertility

• • hormones can be used to treat infertility
  • some women have low levels of FSH, so eggs do not mature, so no eggs released
  • FSH and LH can be given as fetility drug to stimulate ovulation
  • it helps women get pregnant
  • it doesn't always work - may be needed multiple times, which can be expensive
  • too many eggs be stimulated which can lead to multiple pregnancies
• IVF:

  • mother given FSH and LH to stimulate many eggs into maturing - so more than one egg can be collected
  • eggs collected and fertilised by sperm from father
  • fertilised eggs develop into embryos
  • when embyos are small balls of cells, one or two embryos inserted into uterus
• IVF impacts:

  • IVF can give infertile couple a child
  • can cause multiple births than are risks to babies and mother
  • low success rate - 26% success rate in UK
  • emotionally and physically stressful
• • advances in microscope techniques have helped to improve techniques, so success rate of IVF
  • micro-tools developed to use on eggs and sperm under microscope
  • used to remove single cells from embryo for genetic testing to check it is healthy
  • development of time-lapse imaging means growth of embryos is monitored to identify embryos more likely to result in successful pregnancy
• • IVF sometimes results in unused embryos that get destroyed
  • unethical as each embryo is potential human life
  • some think that genetic testing of embryos before implantation can lead to selection of preferred characteristics