Medical Treatment Methods for Infertility

Medical treatment of infertility generally involves medication, surgery, or both. If the sperm is of good quality, and woman’s reproductive structures are good (potent fallopian tubes, no adhesions or scarring), physicians may apply the method of ovarian stimulating medication. The physician may also suggest Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), in which the doctor introduces sperm into the uterus during ovulation, via a catheter. In these methods, fertilization occurs inside the body.

If pregnancy is not achieved by such conservative medical treatments, the physician may suggest that the patient to go through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). IVF and related techniques are called Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) techniques. ART techniques generally stimulate the ovaries to increase egg production. After stimulation, the physician surgically extracts one or more eggs from the ovary, and unites them with sperm in a laboratory setting, aiming at producing one or more embryos. In this process, called embryo transfer fertilization takes place outside the body, and the fertilized egg is reinserted into the woman’s reproductive tract. Tuboplasty, assisted hatching and PGD are other medical techniques.