Infertility is defined as the inability or reduced biological capacity of a man or woman to contribute to the conception of a child. Most commonly, it is defined as the inability to get pregnant after 12 months of intercourse without birth control. Infertility can also refer to a woman’s inability to carry a pregnancy to term.

Infertility affects approximately 1 in every couple of reproductive age. In the US, approx. Seven percent of married couples where the woman was of childbearing age (2.1 million) reported that they were unable to become pregnant after trying for one year (2002 National Survey of Family Growth).

In some cases, both the man and the woman may be subfertile. In other cases, each member of the couple is fertile, but the couple cannot conceive together without help. in approx. In 1/3 of the cases, the male is infertile, in 1/3 the female is infertile, and in 1/3 it can be any of them or the cause is unknown. In about 15% of cases, the investigation will show no abnormalities that can be detected with current methods.

Egg quality is also critically important, especially for women of advanced maternal age. Or it may be that the egg is not released at the optimal time for fertilization, or that the sperm cannot reach the egg, or that fertilization does not occur.

If you are trying to get pregnant and are considering fertility treatment, do not immediately opt for more advanced and expensive fertility treatments, such as IVF, thinking that you will get pregnant faster.

She has several fertility treatments available, including: fertility drugs, surgery, IVF, GIFT, ZIFT, donor eggs, and surrogacy. In 85% to 95% of cases, infertility can be treated with conventional fertility treatments, such as drug therapy. These solutions are more affordable and less invasive than some of the other options.

Here’s an overview of your fertility treatment options, ranked from least to most invasive:

Fertility drugs: These drugs can help balance a woman’s or man’s reproductive system and hormones.

Artificial insemination: Sometimes the male’s sperm needs help to reach the female’s egg. Placing a dose of sperm in the uterus at the right time will improve the chances of getting pregnant.

Surgery: Some women have blocked fallopian tubes, endometriosis, ovarian fibroids or cysts, or genetic defects. Minor surgery, performed with a laparoscope (a thin, fiber-like tube) can help diagnose the problem. However, more extensive surgery may be required.

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART): ART can include high-tech in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), or in rarer cases, GIFT or ZIFT. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is an important infertility treatment when other ART methods have failed. It involves surgically removing eggs (ova) from a woman’s ovaries, fertilizing them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman’s body. Both zygote intrafallopian transfer and gamete intrafallopian transfer are ART procedures, which involve removing the woman’s eggs, mixing them with the man’s sperm, and implanting them into the woman’s fallopian tubes. With ZIFT, fertilization takes place outside the body and with GIFT, fertilization takes place inside the body. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a procedure in which a single sperm (especially donor sperm) is injected directly into an egg.

Egg Donation: Occasionally, a woman may require the use of an egg donor, depending on her age and the quality of the egg.