Fertility tips: Advances in IVF that can help couples battling with infertility | Health

India’s General Fertility Rate (GFR) has declined by 20% over the past decade and one in every 15 Indian couples’ battles infertility however, there is a lot of stigma involved with infertility, which creates an obstacle for couples seeking support. WHO defines infertility as, “A disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.”

The good news is advances in Assistive Reproductive Technologies can help couples battling infertility to a large extent to achieve their dream of parenthood. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Sulbha Arora, Clinical Director at Nova IVF Fertility in Mumbai, shared, “One of the popular and widely known fertility treatments is IVF (In vitro fertilization). Advances in this process can improve the success rates of fertility treatment and reduce any chances of complications. For example, IVF combined with tests like PGT-A (Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidies) can detect chromosomal abnormalities in the embryo before implanting the embryo. Tests like these are especially beneficial for women of advanced maternal age, as the incidence of abnormal embryos increases with increasing age of the woman.” She suggested:

• Women can opt for freezing their eggs

Recently Priyanka Chopra opened up about freezing her eggs further to the recommendation from her gynaecologist mother. Egg freezing is a highly trusted procedure as the technique has advanced over a period of time. There is less scope for eggs to get damaged as the method of freezing & thawing the eggs has improved. It is highly recommended for women battling cancer who want to preserve their fertility. In the recent times, social egg freezing is becoming popular where women freeze their eggs if they are not ready for parenthood. It could be for different reasons such as pursuing their career, education, or not having found a partner yet.

• Better chances with frozen embryo transfer

The chances of frozen embryos implanting has increased over the years. Frozen embryos may have higher success rates because they can be implanted into the womb at a time when the woman’s body is more receptive and because vitrification (rapid freezing) techniques have advanced significantly.

Earlier IVF was commonly associated with multiple pregnancies as multiple embryos were transferred during the treatment. These days fertility specialists prefer transferring one healthy embryo. Typically, in the past, the second or third day after egg collection has been used for embryo transfer following IVF or ICSI. But, we are now able to culture embryos for five or six days thanks to developments in the IVF laboratory. The embryos now have additional chances to demonstrate their capacity for development. Before day 5 or 6, some embryos cease their development. The embryologist can discover and pick the best embryo(s) for embryo transfer thanks to this “natural selection.” Multiple births can also lead to complications in mother’s and baby’s health, hence single embryo transfer is ideal.

• Chromosomal testing of embryos to reduce chances of abnormalities

Chromosomal testing of embryos is known as PGT-A (preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies). PGT-A can assist in the selection of chromosomally normal embryos for transfer because women over 35 have a higher risk of birth abnormalities. It also helps patients who have a history of miscarriages that may have been brought on by chromosomal abnormalities.