Infertility treatment
Assisted reproduction or artificial fertilisation is a term covering medical procedures and methods used to manipulate parental cells (sperm cells or eggs).
Most couples suffering infertility issues may benefit from a simple treatment method of assisted reproduction. We always start with the simplest methods of infertility treatment to more sophisticated ones.
Selection of Treatment Programme
In case of infertility treatment, the patients are offered one of the treatment programmes based on the examination results to fit their needs and current health condition. We conduct the following treatment methods at our clinic:
- Ovarian stimulation and planned intercourse,
- IUI – Intrauterine Insemination,
- IVF – In Vitro Fertilisation with Own Eggs,
- IVF min – In Vitro Fertilisation with minimal hormonal stimulation,
- DIVF – In Vitro Fertilisation with Donated Eggs,
- KET – CryoEmbryoTransfer of Own Embryo,
- KET DEM – CryoEmbryoTransfer of Donated Embryo.
IVF min does not just include IVF with minimal hormonal stimulation, but also the “native IVF cycle”, which is performed without hormonal stimulation.
For the purposes of the treatment, you can decide to use your partner’s sperm or the sperm from an anonymous donor based on the cause and severity of infertility.
Once the cause of infertility is identified, the doctor decides with the patient on the most suitable procedure of artificial fertilisation and then proceeds to compile the treatment time schedule. The doctor and experienced personnel provide you with any and all information about the requirements which need to be met to guarantee the greatest possible chance for the treatment to be successful.
From then on, you are under the care of your doctor or treatment coordinator, who is ready to give you advice on anything or answer any questions related to your treatment.
Ovarian stimulation and planned intercourse
Who is the method designated for?
Ovarian stimulation is suitable for patients, who suffer problems with regularity of their cycle and with releasing of the egg - ovulation.
Which medications are administered during the stimulation?
The first choice medication in these cases are antiestrogens, which are used from the 3rd to 7th day of the menstrual cycle (1st day of the cycle = 1st day of menstruation). The whole cycle should be monitored by ultrasound (measuring the height of the uterine mucosa and size of the growing follicles) performed ideally between the 11th - 13th day of the cycle. After that an injection of Pregnyl is administered, which triggers ovulation and the best time for natural conception can be predicted and planned.
IUI - intrauterine insemination
Method Description
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) is a method of assisted reproduction, which involves treatment of partner’s or donor sperm followed by its insertion directly into the patient’s uterus.
Who is this method designated for?
IUI is suitable for couples, who have not achieved pregnancy despite confirmed ovulation and carefully planned intercourse. The cause of failure can be a slightly lower quality of the sperm, which can be overcome by performing IUI. Another cause could be an immunological infertility factor.
What is required of the partner - the IUI method is based on the natural capability of the sperm to fertilise the egg in the woman’s sexual duct. The success rate of the method is very low if the partner has only a small quantity of live sperm of poor quality.
What is required of the patient - the woman needs to have a confirmed ovulation and examination of passability of the fallopian tubes is recommended.
IVF - In Vitro Fertilisation with Own Eggs
Method Description
In Vitro fertilisation (IVF) includes a set of treatment procedures where the female germ cells (eggs) are fertilized by the partner’s or donor’s sperm outside the woman’s body. This is called extracorporeal fertilisation.
Who is the IVF method designated for?
- Women with diagnosed occlusion of the fallopian tubes
- Women with diagnosed endometriosis
- Women, who suffer problems with egg release (ovulation) and who did not achieve success with using antiestrogens
- Couples with serious male sterility factor
- Couples with immunological sterility factor
- Couples, who have been trying to achieve pregnancy for several years without success and without any clear cause of infertility
IVF min - In Vitro Fertilisation with Minimal Hormonal Stimulation
Method Description
Unlike conventional stimulation in the IVF programme, the purpose of IVF min is not to obtain the maximum possible quantity of eggs, but to obtain eggs via as natural stimulation as possible. Once we obtain the eggs, the subsequent fertilisation and transfer procedures are identical to those of the conventional IVF. We always use ICSI to fertilise eggs obtained after minimal stimulation.
Therefore, it does not constitute the application of an injection containing the stimulating hormone (FSH), but instead the use of pills (Femara), the effect of which causes the natural FSH produced by hypophysis to increase.
Who is the IVF min method designated for?
The stimulation is suitable for women with low ovarian reserve, as well as for women who did not conceive after conventional hormonal stimulation or women with a polycystic ovary.
DIVF - In Vitro Fertilisation with Donated Eggs
Method Description
The DIVF treatment programme includes a set of treatment procedures when eggs from an anonymous female donor are fertilized by the partner’s or donor’s sperm.
Who is this method designated for?
Donation of eggs helps treat women, whose ovaries produce only a few or no eggs. This phenomenon occurs mainly in women over 40 years of age, where treatment with own eggs yields a very low success. Egg donation can be used also for couples with repeatedly low quality of embryos, where the cause is not on the man’s side. Some women, who need donor eggs, are the carries (transmitters) of inherited genetic disorder, or are after successful treatment of cancer (chemotherapy, radiotherapy).
FrozenEmbryoTransfer
Method Description
Frozenembryotransfer (FET) is a simple treatment programme that can be used if there are embryos available for transfer in the cryobank. They mostly use own embryos frozen in the previous treatment. Fully donated embryos can also be used in certain cases.
Who is Frozenembryotransfer designated for?
Frozenembryotransfer is a treatment cycle using embryos that are frozen after preliminary stimulation. The method is used for patients, whose IVF treatment and transfer of “fresh” embryos did not yield success, or in patients who already gave birth and want another child.
The success rate of frozenembryotransfer has significantly increased in the past few years thanks to implementation of the vitrification technique. The difference in the success rate when compared to the transfer of fresh embryos is minimal at present.