Infertility: An Overview Of Treatment

1 Infertility: An Overview of Treatment

There are many different methods and techniques that doctors and clinics can employ to improve your chances of conception. These are summarised below. For a more detailed analysis of each of these treatments, please click onto the appropriate page.

1. Drug Treatments

Drugs used by women:

Ovulation Induction Drugs
Pituitary Stimulating Drugs
Ovary Stimulators
Cycle Suppressant Drugs
Drugs That Maintain Pregnancy
Other Drugs.

Drugs used by men.

Please read "Drugs Used in Infertility Treatment" for further details.

2. Surgery

Surgical procedures for women;

To Unblock Fallopian Tubes
Reversal of Sterilisation

Surgical Procedures for men;

Vasectomy Reversal
Varicocele Surgery
Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (PESA)
Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE)
Microsurgical Sperm Aspiration (MESA)

Please read "Surgical Treatments in Infertility" for further details.

3. Artificial Insemination

Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) which places sperm into the uterus (womb),
Intracervical Insemination which places the sperm into the neck of the womb (the cervix),
Intrafallopian Insemination which places sperm into the fallopian tubes,
Intraperitoneal Insemination which places sperm near the opening of the fallopian tubes next to the ovary,
Intravaginal Insemination which places sperm into the vagina
Donor Insemination (DI)

Please read "Artificial Insemination" for further details.

4. Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART):

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)
Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (GIFT)
Zygote Intra-Fallopian Transfer (ZIFT)
Blastocyst Transfer
Assisted Hatching

The Amount of Intervention Required To Conceive

The differing techniques mentioned above and described in detail in the following few pages can by viewed on a scale from methods that are closest to natural conception (least amount of assisted conception required) to those furthest from nature (most amount of assisted conception required);

Least assisted -----------------------------------------> Most assisted

AI ---> GIFT ---> ZIFT ---> IVF ---> Blastocyst Transfer ---> ICSI

In this scale, clearly, variations will be present as unstimulated cycles (those requiring no drugs) will be closer to natural conception as they require less intervention than stimulated cycles (those requiring drugs to stimulate egg development). Many assisted conception methods can also be combined with other techniques such as Assisted Hatching which again increase the complexity of the procedure.