When we talk about infertility attention usually falls on treatment for women. However, infertility can affect men as well. The condition of infertility, can be described as the inability to become pregnant for a period of 1 year despite having unprotected, well-timed sexual intercourse. A low sperm count is one of the primary reasons for infertility in men.

Typically there should be fifteen million sperm per milliliter of semen. Low sperm count refers to the ejaculation of less than a normal amount of sperm in semen. This can also be termed as oligospermia. A complete absence of sperm in semen is known as azoospermia. Low sperm count does not mean that you cannot impregnate your partner but it reduces the chance of a successful conception. Thus, one of the most common ways to treat infertility caused by low sperm count is IVF.

IVF involves harvesting eggs from the woman s uterus and sperm from the male partner and combining them in a laboratory to form a zygote. When IVF is used to treat male infertility, a semen analysis is the first step. This helps determine the patient s sperm count, sperm motility, volume, pH levels, white blood cell levels etc.
The ejaculated semen is then processed so as to separate the sperm cells from the plasma. In this process sperm cells with higher motility are identified and segregated. These cells have a higher chance of fertilizing the egg.
Sperm cells are then injected into the harvested egg. Some techniques may require the injection of 50,000 or more sperm cells while others such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be effective with a single sperm cell. Once the egg is fertilized, it is allowed to develop for a few days in the laboratory. 
Two or three embryos are then selected to be reintroduced into the woman s uterus with the help of a catheter. The remaining fertilized embryos are preserved in an embryo bank in case the pregnancy is not successful. If these need to be used later, the woman does not have to go through the initial stages of IVF treatment to stimulate the follicles and harvest eggs from the ovaries.
When it comes to IVF, the success rates are very high. However, one of the most common side effects is the birth of twins or triplets. This is because multiple embryos are inserted into the uterus. The number of babies born then depends on the number of embryos that are implanted successfully.

Declining Sperm Count - How IVF Can Help Deal With It?

Factors that determine the success of your IVF procedure

IVF or In Vitro Fertilization is a process wherein an egg is fertilized by a sperm in a laboratory dish to form the embryo (baby's first cell) which after growth in artificial medium in the lab is transferred into the uterus of women, In general, a blood sample is collected to determine whether you're pregnant or not about 10-14 days after the eggs are retrieved.

Coming to the success of the procedure, a number of factors are at play and these are:

The age at which you get pregnant

A factor that plays a role in influencing your chances of experiencing success in your IVF procedure is the age at which you opt for this procedure. The lower your age, the chances that you may get pregnant and deliver a healthy child using your own eggs witness an increase. On the other hand, if you're aged 41 and above, or your egg reserve is very low donor eggs are the most preferred option as they help to increase your prospects of meeting a success.

Lifestyle habits

Certain lifestyle factors can significantly affect your prospects of getting pregnant through this route. Smoking can reduce your prospect of success using this procedure by about 50%. It can cause you to have lesser number of eggs retrieved during the procedure while increasing instances of miscarriages. Likewise, obesity, alcohol use, consumption of excessive caffeine and drugs can adversely affect your chances of getting pregnant using IVF.

Cause of Infertility

If your supply of eggs is normal, success rate using IVF is high. Women who suffer from the problem of endometriosis experience lesser chances of getting pregnant than women who have unexplained fertility.

Reproductive history

IVF success rate chances are higher if you've delivered a baby previously using IVF.

Embryo status

Embryos that are better developed with good grade stand a higher chance of experiencing success than less developed embryos. More importantly, not every embryo is able to survive the development process.



What are the factors that determine the success of your IVF procedure?

It is as important for the man as it is for the woman to undergo certain tests before the IVF cycle is started. Fertility is not only an issue for a woman, but it also might be for the man in question. There are certain tests that need to be conducted on men before they can gear up for IVF:

1. Semen Analysis: One of the most important tests for male infertility is semen analysis. Sometimes, a man may be completely healthy, but his sperm production could be of poor quality. Semen analysis is done to provide an accurate evaluation of sperm number, the ability to move (motility), size and shape (morphology), as well as the consistency and volume of the sample collected.

2. Binding Test: Sometimes agglutination occurs where the sperms might stick to each other by their heads or tails. Sperm antibodies might cause this problem. The IVF treatment's success might be compromised if this happens. A simple binding test is done to determine this.

3. Trial Wash: This is also known as sperm wash. It is mostly done to remove chemicals from the sperm. Not doing a sperm wash might end up affecting the later stages of the IVF treatment. In this process, the misshapen and immotile sperm is separated so a clean sample of motile and healthy sperm can be collected.

4. TUNEL Assay: Since sperms build up about half of a child's genetic makeup, a TUNEL Assay or 'sperm DNA test' is required. This test is done to measure the sperm population that have fragmented DNA. Negative impacts on genetics can hamper the success of the fertility treatment.

TUNEL Assay is usually recommended to men with:
a) Leukocytes detected by the sperm analysis
b) Age approaching 50
c) A history of diabetes II type or prostatitis
d) Exposure to chemicals or prolonged heat at workplaces

5. Screening for Infectious Diseases: This test is done for both the partners to check for diseases like AIDS, Hepatitis C, and so on.

Tests Suggested for Men Before IVF

IVF is a useful process for people who want to become parents but have exhausted all other means of being so. However, the in-vitro fertilization method is definitely not suitable for everyone. Here are some facts you need to know about the procedure and they will help you determine whether you are suited for the program or not.

1. IVF Takes Time
Even though most clinics may not tell you this, but the IVF procedure takes a bit of time to deliver the desired results. On an average, the treatment can take anywhere between four weeks to a couple of months to produce results, depending on the patient s ability to respond to the medicines used. The procedure involves artificially stopping the menstrual cycle of the woman. Next, the ovulation process is stimulated so that the healthy egg can be extracted from the womb. The eggs chosen are then fertilized and left to undergo embryo culture for another six days. After this, the eggs are implanted back into the mother s body.

2. The process Can Be Stressful
IVF treatment and pregnancy can be quite a stressful period of time for the parents in question. The mother needs to be constantly monitored to check for any abnormal response to the pregnancy. Regular checkups by the doctor along with blood tests may also be suggested. However, this stress has very little chance of affecting the quality of the pregnancy. So, do not worry that overstressing yourself will lead to complications for the embryo.

3. More Than One Cycle Needed For Pregnancy
IVF treatment occurs in cycles. Each cycle involves transplanting a fertilized egg into the womb. However, pregnancy, right after completion of the first cycle, is quite rare. In fact, almost all patients need to undergo several similar cycles in order to get pregnant. So, do not be disheartened if you do not get pregnant after undergoing the very first cycle of IVF treatment.

4. IVF Is Costly
Not everyone is able to afford the high cost of IVF. Others may be able to afford the cost of undergoing a couple of cycles of the same, after which the high costs can become a burden. Only a select few can bear to carry on with the treatment until the pregnancy arises. So, consider your financial condition prior to signing on for such a treatment option.

At any rate, consult with an expert to get an even better idea about the IVF procedure and the consequent pregnancy. 

All You Need To Know About The IVF Procedure!

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection i.e. ICSI is different from conventional IVF i.e. In Vitro Fertilization because a single sperm is selected by the embryologist to be injected by a needle into the egg rather than a dish with many sperms placed near the egg so that the fastest swimming sperm enters it. Once the sperm is injected directly into the egg, it fertilizes, after which the embryo is transferred into the womb or uterus. 

Your doctor might recommend ICSI treatment for you if you have an extremely low sperm count resulting in infertility or other medical sperm conditions such as poor motility or poor morphology. It may also be suggested if prior attempts at IVF procedures have failed in fertilizing the egg or the fertilization rate is extremely low. You must also consider ICSI treatment if you resort to embryo testing or if the sperm needs to be collected from the epididymis or testicles surgically. 

However, you must keep in mind that if your partner has a genetic problem resulting in low sperm count, it could be passed on to your child, if you decide to use your husband's sperm for this process.

Success Rates of ICSI:
The success rate of ICSI treatment depends on your age and your fertility problem. Your eggs are healthier when you are young and as you age, chances are that they will become less healthy.
1. 35 per cent if you are under 35 years of age
2. 29 per cent if you are between 35 to 37 years of age
3. 21 per cent if you are between 38 to 39 years of age
4. 14 per cent if you are between 40 to 42 years of age
5. 6 per cent if you are between 43 to 44 years of age
6. 5 per cent if you are above 44 years of age

Advantages of ICSI Treatment:
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection gives you a chance to conceive a child genetically when most other options are exhausted. Males may be unable to ejaculate on the day the eggs are collected due to anxiety. ICSI proves to be advantageous because sperm may also be surgically extracted for this process. It is extremely helpful for those couples who suffer from unexplained infertility. However, one of the most important factors is that ICSI treatment does not affect your child's physical or mental health.

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

There is nothing more stressful to a patient and a caring gynaecologist than to face repeated IVF failure or recurrent pregnancy loss following IVF. So to advice couples who have failed one or more attempts, to keep on trying over and over and over; is not an easy job. Here, one can find solution in Ayurvedic treatment. Ayurveda, through its medicines, diet & lifestyle modifications and panchakarma raises a new hope after IVF failure. Ayurvedic treatment enhances success rate of Artificial Reproductive Techniques (IUI, IVF, ICSI-ET) or increases chance of natural conception as per cause of infertility.

What is Infertility?

Infertility is Inability to conceive even after one year of unprotected coitus or inability to carry pregnancy till full term. There are many causes of infertility; such as tubal block, PID, Endometriosis, PCOD in women and low sperm count, low sperm motility in men. When there is severe tubal disease, severe egg factors, failed IUI treatments, severe male factors, unexplained infertility, grade III & IV endometriosis; Test tube baby is suggested.

What is test tube baby? IVF (In-Vitro-Fertilization)?

It is a laboratory procedure in which processed sperm are either placed with oocyte (IVF) or injected into oocyte (ICSI) in a petridish to achieve fertilization. The resultant embryos are transferred into woman's uterus for implantation.

What are causes of IVF failure?

To work out on IVF failures, we should focus on causes of failure.
One of the most common causes of IVF failure is Abnormal Embryo. Abnormal embryo can be formed due to abnormal egg (oocyte) or abnormal sperm or if both are abnormal.
Another common cause is Implantation failure. Endometrium preparation and its receptivity are more important for implantation of an embryo. Endometrium should be 6 mm or more in thickness preferably 8-10 mm. To know details about endometrium preparation, Color Doppler should be done. It has also been observed that when pregnancy is achieved in absence of endometrial and sub-endometrial flow on the day of embryo transfer (ET), more than half of pregnancy will finish as spontaneous miscarriage. 
IVF cycle can be cancelled even before Ovum Pick Up due to Poor Ovarian Response, in which very few or no follicle growth is seen even after fertility injections.
Most neglected but important cause is Pre-treatment STRESS.
HOPE IN AYURVEDA:

According to Ayurveda, four factors are essential for conception; namely seed (oocyte and sperm), soil (reproductive track), season (fertile period) and water (nutrition).
Ayurvedic fertility treatments regularize metabolism of body, purify reproductive organs, maintain hormonal equilibrium, improve endometrium lining & receptivity, increase egg and sperm quality and relieve stress.
Womb preparation treatment of Ayurveda enhances success rate of IUI, IVF, ICSI-ET.

Womb Preparation Treatments:

Ayurvedic medicines
Ayurvedic herbs and medicinal preparations act as natural tonic to male and female reproductive organs. They maintain biological clock of menstruation; hence hormonal imbalance is corrected. They also help in making most potent and healthy sperm & ovum and eventually a healthy pregnancy.

Panchakarma (Detoxification)
Ayurveda can treat infertility by Panchakarma procedures like Basti, Uttarbasti, Vaman, Virechan, Nasya using different Ayurvedic formulations as per cause of infertility & failure of IVF and according to body constitution of patient.

Basti acts on vata predominantly. It increases strength of reproductive organs 
Uttarbasti is an intrauterine instillation of sterile medicated oil or ghee. It acts on endometrial receptors
Vamana and Virechana detox the whole body and improves digestive fire for proper nourishment of reproductive hormones and organs
Yoniprakshalana (Irrigation of vulva and vagina with warm decoction) and Pichudharan (Insertion of a sterile tampoon soaked in medicated ghee or oil in posterior fornix of vagina) are also helpful in infertility
According to Ayurveda; A Cheerful mind forms the basis of pregnancy; so relaxing panchakarma procedures like massage, steam, head massage, Shirodhara are done to reduce stress and its impact on infertility treatments.

Diet:
Like other fertility treatments, Ayurvedic treatment does not depend only on medicines. In fact, it ensures that patient follows a strict diet rules as per Ayurveda and avoids spicy and salty food. The proper food can help to provide proper nutrition to reproductive organs.

Lifestyle modification:
Nowadays infertility has become a part of lifestyle diseases. Ayurvedic Doctor can guide you to modify lifestyle according to your body constitution (Dinacharya) and seasonal variations (Rutucharya). It is always better to avoid cigarette smoking, tobacco and alcohol as they reduce fertility. Exercise is an inevitable part of lifestyle. One should learn exercise, yogasana (e.g. Surya Namaskara, Gomukhasan, Sarvangasan, Pavanmuktasan, Ardhamatsyandrasan, Naukasan, Dhanurasan, Shalabhasan etc.) and Pranayam from an experienced teacher.  

IVF Failure: Hope In Ayurveda!

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