Fertility

• Identification of the fertile window

  1. FERMLIM

  2. A woman's body temperature rises by around 0.5% and her cervical mucus becomes thin and watery
• Infertility treatments and contraception are based on the biology of fertility
• Women


  • Show cyclical fertility leading to a fertile window
• Men


  • Show continuous fertility and continually produce sperm in the testes
• Stimulating ovulation


  Ovulation is stimulated by drugs that prevent the negative feedback effect of estrogen on FSH secretion. Other ovulatory drugs mimic the action of FSH and LH. These drugs can cause superovulation that can result in multiple births or be used to collect ova for IVF
• Artificial insemination


  Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection: Several samples of semen are collected over a period of time. If mature sperm are defective or very low in number, ICSI can be used. The head of the sperm is drawn into a needle and injected directly into the egg to achieve fertilisation
• In vitro fertilisation


  ICSI can also be used for IVF. IVF is a multi-stage process: 1. Surgical removal of eggs from ovaries after hormone stimulation. 2. The eggs are mixed with sperm in a culture dish. 3. The fertilised eggs are incubated until they have formed at least eight cells. 4. The embryos are transferred to the uterus for implantation
• Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis


  Used in conjunction with IVF to screen for genetic abnormalities such as single gene and chromosome mutations
• Contraception


  Contraception is the intentional prevention of conception or pregnancy by physical or barrier methods
• Physical contraception methods


  • Barrier methods (e.g., condoms, diaphragm, cervical cap)
  • IUD (intra-uterine device)
  • Sterilisation (vasectomy, tubal ligation)
• Chemical contraception methods


  • Oral contraceptive pill (contains synthetic estrogen and progesterone)
  • Progesterone-only pill
  • Emergency hormonal pills (morning after pills)
• Emergency hormonal pills can be taken up to 72 hours or 120 hours after unprotected sex to prevent or delay ovulation