Infertility - Treatment

Infertility - Treatment

Once the cause of infertility is determined, doctors devise a strategy for the couple to increase their fertility. The optimum treatment is one that enables existing natural reproductive processes to take place. Sometimes only small adjustments in the frequency and timing of sexual intercourse are required to bring about fertilization. Patients are instructed in how to identify the woman’s most fertile times in order to plan intercourse accordingly. Practices that temporarily result in lowered sperm counts or damaged sperm can be curtailed, such as the use of certain medications, alcohol, marijuana, and hot tubs or saunas. If the problem is insufficient sperm, a semen sample can be concentrated—that is, the number of sperm per milliliter can be boosted using laboratory techniques to increase potency.

Ovulation problems can be treated with hormones and fertility drugs to produce multiple mature eggs. Fertility drugs, such as clomiphene and human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG), induce ovulation in women whose sex hormones—estrogen, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH)—do not function properly. HMG may also be given to men to stimulate sperm production. Another fertility drug, a pure, injectable form of FSH, is also given to women to stimulate ovulation.

In addition to conventional methods of fertility treatment, there are also several newer techniques, collectively known as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTS). 

See Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTS) ...

Once the cause of infertility is determined, doctors devise a strategy for the couple to increase their fertility. The optimum treatment is one that enables existing natural reproductive processes to take place. Sometimes only small adjustments in the frequency and timing of sexual intercourse are required to bring about fertilization. Patients are instructed in how to identify the woman’s most fertile times in order to plan intercourse accordingly. Practices that temporarily result in lowered sperm counts or damaged sperm can be curtailed, such as the use of certain medications, alcohol, marijuana, and hot tubs or saunas. If the problem is insufficient sperm, a semen sample can be concentrated—that is, the number of sperm per milliliter can be boosted using laboratory techniques to increase potency.

Ovulation problems can be treated with hormones and fertility drugs to produce multiple mature eggs. Fertility drugs, such as clomiphene and human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG), induce ovulation in women whose sex hormones—estrogen, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH)—do not function properly. HMG may also be given to men to stimulate sperm production. Another fertility drug, a pure, injectable form of FSH, is also given to women to stimulate ovulation.

In addition to conventional methods of fertility treatment, there are also several newer techniques, collectively known as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTS).  See Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTS) ...