What are the advantages of in vitro fertilization?

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In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most used assisted reproduction technique in the face of infertility. Both conventional IVF and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) allow many women to achieve pregnancy, even with severe fertility problems. However, compared to other reproductive processes such as artificial insemination (AI), it also has some drawbacks.

Next you have an index with all the points that we are going to treat in this article.

Index

What are the advantages of in vitro fertilization (IVF)?

Artificial insemination or IVF?

The main objective of assisted reproduction is to achieve the pregnancy of the woman, always looking for the closest approach to the natural process, that is to say, the least manipulation of the gametes (eggs and spermatozoa).

In this sense, artificial insemination is usually the first treatment to be applied, since it is simple, quick and painless. In addition, compared to IVF, the process of ovarian stimulation is much milder, thus reducing possible side effects.

Advantages of IVF

Higher doses of hormonal medication as well as surgical intervention under anesthesia required to obtain the eggs are the main disadvantages of IVF. However, this technique has two major advantages over artificial insemination:

  • High success rates: the probability of pregnancy when applying artificial insemination in young women (under 40) is close to 13% whereas with IVF, success rates in this group of patients are around 40%. On the other hand, in older women, IVF provides solutions while AI does not.
  • Egg donation: IVF allows the use of donor eggs and therefore solve problems related to low ovarian reserve, cases of menopause, genetic problems of women, etc.
  • The requirements of IVF are less than those of AI, since the tubes are not required to be permeable, nor does ovulation occur spontaneously. It is only necessary that the uterine cavity is normal, something essential also in artificial insemination.
  • Freezing of embryos: after a first IVF process, it is possible to cryopreserve the non-transferred embryos. Thus, in a later attempt, it would not be necessary to return to complete IVF, but simply the endometrial preparation and uterine transference. In artificial insemination it is possible to freeze the semen but a new attempt of AI would be practically the same.

If you want to read more information about the differences between the assisted reproduction process, you can click here: Differences IA and IVF.

Advantages and Disadvantages of ICSI

If we compare conventional IVF with ICSI, we also find advantages and disadvantages.

As for the results, we can not say that one technique or another present a greater probability of pregnancy, because it depends to a large extent on the fertility problem and the professional's ability to perform the process, among other influential factors.

Among the main advantages of ICSI are:

  • Possibility of allowing pregnancy in cases of severe male infertility such as azoospermia, oligospermia or asthenozoospermia.
  • Possibility of using sperm samples from not only ejaculate, but also epididymis or testicular biopsy, which are of worse quality.
ICSI in cases of severe male infertility

Conventional IVF, on the other hand, is less invasive than ICSI. Despite facilitating fertilization, it is the spermatozoa themselves that have to be able to enter the egg by their own means. This brings us closer to the biological process, allowing the natural selection of those spermatozoa with greater reproductive potential and therefore, more likely to give rise to a viable embryo and able to develop in a healthy child.

Finally, ICSI is technically more complicated. It requires a specific team and great experience of the embryologist.

User questions

Is there any advantage or disadvantage in the treatment of ICSI versus normal IVF?

The conventional IVF and ICSI process is the same as for the treatment and process that the patient should follow. The only change is at the laboratory level, in the way that egg and sperm are attached, therefore, there are no advantages or disadvantages in this sense by doing one or another method.

This will depend on the reproductive center and the situation of each patient.

The price of AI is a very important advantage for me, but I have a non-permeable tube, would it be more beneficial to do IVF?

While it is true that the cost of artificial insemination is an advantage to be highlighted in comparison to IVF, the probability of success should be given priority. With only a patent tube, the possibility of pregnancy with artificial insemination is reduced, so it would be necessary to assess whether it is convenient to do AI or IVF.

It is advisable to take into account all the advantages and all the disadvantages when choosing the technique to apply.

What are the benefits of in vitro fertilization for humans?

In vitro fertilization allows pregnancy to many women and couples who wish to have a child and do not get it naturally. It is the main technique of reproductive medicine to solve serious problems of male and female fertility.

For me one drawback would be having twins. Is this probability very high?

One of the general disadvantages of assisted reproduction treatments is the greater likelihood of twin pregnancy due, mainly to the process of ovarian stimulation that is applied.

In the case of in vitro fertilization, one way to reduce this probability considerably is to transfer a single embryo. Double transfer maybe increases the likelihood of pregnancy but also increases twin pregnancy. Therefore, an adequate selection of the embryo to be transferred is crucial to achieve the single pregnancy.

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