Under what circumstances do I need IVF treatment?
At New Hope Fertility Center in New York, I have encountered a few couples who, after a few years of trying to conceive and no infertility tests done, come and tell me that they wanted to do and are ready for an IVF treatment. When this situation happens, we explain to patients that not all infertile couples need to do IVF. First, we will need to check the semen quality. If it is poor quality, the woman does not need to have a tubal patency test undergoing IVF treatment. If the semen quality is poor, the sperm does not have the ability to naturally fertilize the egg. On the other hand, if the semen quality is good, the woman will need to have a tubal patency test. If the tubes are normal, they may consider artificial insemination; if the tubes are abnormal (or blocked), they may need IVF treatment.
- The right candidate for in-vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET)
If traditional infertility treatment cannot be used, fertility doctors can suggest couples to do in-vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET). Couples with the following conditions maybe consider IVF-ET:
- Women with bilateral tubal ligation
- Women with severe damage to their tubes due to infection or endometriosis
- Women with severe pelvic adhesions from PID or surgery
- Women who had an ectopic pregnancy and was unable to conceive for more than a year
- Unexplained infertility, ovulatory disorder, asthenozoospermia, and women who had 3 unsuccessful cycles of infertility treatment
- Women with fallopian tube recanalization, lysis of abdominal adhesions, tubal plastic surgery, tubal factor infertility, and other surgery and was unable to conceive for more than a year
- Men who are unresponsive to male infertility drug therapy
- Women over 38 years old with tubal factor infertility caused by pelvic adhesions should first consider IVF-ET, then surgery if treatment fails (excluding tubal ligation)
- Women with ovarian failure or with low ovarian reserve can only use donor eggs and husband’s sperm (donor IVF-ET)
- Repeated IVF-ET failure caused by egg quality can consider using donor eggs (donor IVF-ET) or de
- Women with genetic disorders can consider using donor eggs (donor IVF-ET) depending on individual cases
- Women who have damaged endometrial lining or cannot be pregnant due to health issue can consider surrogacy (surrogate IVF-ET)
- Men with azoospermia can consider using donor sperm with IVF-ET
- Who cannot have in vitro fertilization – embryo transfer (IVF-ET)
- Women who have serious health complication that can be affected by pregnancy could choose IVF surrogacy
- Those who did not sign a consent form
- Those with untreated acute infectious disease (uncured)
- Those with untreated reproductive tract infections
- Women with severely damaged endometrial lining that cannot support a pregnancy
- Those who does not follow the protocol, such as no updated screening tests
