FAQs

• What is infertility?
  Infertility is the inability to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse in women under 35 years, or after six months in women over 35.
• What causes infertility?
  In rough terms, about one-third of infertility cases can be attributed to male factors, and about one-third to factors that affect women. For the remaining one-third of infertile couples, infertility is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or, in about 20 percent of cases, is unexplained.
  The most common male infertility factors include azoospermia (no sperm cells are produced) and oligospermia (few sperm cells are produced). Sometimes, sperm cells are malformed or they die before they can reach the egg. In rare cases, infertility in men is caused by a genetic disease such as cystic fibrosis or a chromosomal abnormality.
  The most common female infertility factor is an ovulation disorder. Other causes of female infertility include blocked fallopian tubes, which can occur when a woman has had pelvic inflammatory disease or endometriosis (a sometimes painful condition causing adhesions and cysts). Congenital anomalies (birth defects) involving the structure of the uterus and uterine fibroids are associated with repeated miscarriages.
• How is infertility diagnosed?
  Couples are generally advised to seek medical help if they are unable to achieve pregnancy after a year of unprotected intercourse. The doctor will conduct a physical examination of both partners to determine their general state of health and to evaluate physical disorders that may be causing infertility. Usually both partners are interviewed about their sexual habits in order to determine whether intercourse is taking place properly for conception.
  If no cause can be determined at this point, more specific tests may be recommended. For women, these include an assessment of ovulation, x-ray of the fallopian tubes and uterine cavity evaluation. For men, initial tests focuses on semen analysis.
• What is a hysterosalpingogram?
  This is an x-ray of the uterus and fallopian tubes. Doctors inject a special dye into the uterus through the vagina. This dye shows up in the x-ray. Doctors can then watch to see if the dye moves freely through the uterus and fallopian tubes. This can help them find physical blocks that may be causing infertility.
• How is infertility treated?
  Most infertility cases -- 85 to 90 percent -- are treated with conventional therapies, such as drug treatment or surgical repair of reproductive organs
• What is In Vitro Fertilization?
  In infertile couples where women have blocked or absent fallopian tubes, or where men have low sperm counts, in vitro fertilization (IVF) offers a chance at parenthood to couples who until recently would have had no hope of having a "biologically related" child.
  In IVF, eggs are surgically removed from the ovary and mixed with sperm outside the body in a Petri dish ("in vitro" is Latin for "in glass"). After about 40 hours, the eggs are examined to see if they have become fertilized by the sperm and are dividing into cells. These fertilized eggs (embryos) are then placed in the women's uterus, thus bypassing the fallopian tubes.
  IVF has received a great deal of media attention since it was first introduced in 1978, but it actually accounts for less than five percent of all infertility treatment.
• Should we have genetic testing?
  Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) is a technique in which one or more cells is taken from an egg or embryo (fertilized egg) for testing to provide information about the genetic make-up of the rest of the cells in that embryo. In order to utilize PGT, couples must undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF), where the eggs (oocytes) are removed from a woman’s body and mixed with her partner’s sperm in a laboratory. The embryos which are created can be tested on Day #3 after egg harvest and then implanted back into the uterus on Day #5. Alternatively, the embryos can be frozen after the cells are removed for testing and implanted in a subsequent menstrual cycle.
  Patients with many inherited familial diseases can have their embryos tested to determine its genetic make-up. Specifically, this would include patients with a history of single-gene disorders (such as thalassemia,cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia) and patients with a history of sex-linked disorders (such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Fragile X syndrome).
  Other patients may also decide to use genetic screening. For some patients with recurrent pregnancy loss, severe male factor infertility, advanced reproductive age or recurrent IVF treatment failures, genetic screening may be used.