Assisted reproductive technology

From ArticleWorld

A wide variety of medical practices, procedures and techniques together make up what we know as assisted reproductive technology or ART. Essentially, these technologies are used separately or in some collective form in order to help a woman or couple achieve a pregnancy in situations where a normal or “unassisted” pregnancy is not possible.

Non-technical assistance

In some cases, a couple doesn’t have absolute infertility. One or both members can receive, for example, hormonal medication to enhance their fertility. Men with low testosterone levels can be treated with hormonal therapy to improve the quality and quantity of sperm cells. It’s more common, though, for a woman to undergo hormonal stimulation of her ovaries early in her cycle, with the intention of increasing her chances of becoming pregnant by helping her make more than one egg.

Technical assistance

Several procedures fall under the category of technical assistance. Artificial insemination is probably the simplest and involves the insertion of concentrated sperm cells into the uterus at the time of ovulation. Even the preparation of the sperm itself can represent a form of ART. If donor sperm is used, it must be screened for abnormalities, concentrated and frozen prior to its use. In some cases, a man can have several batches of his semen combined and concentrated so that, even if he has a low sperm count, an adequate number of sperm cells can be artificially inserted.

Essentially all of the techniques used in the process of in-vitro fertilization fall under the category of assisted reproductive technology. Both the sperm cells and egg cells must be collected and prepared. Fertilization can take place by incubating egg and sperm cells together or an individual egg cell can be injected with a single sperm using a technique called intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection.

The process of incubating the fertilized eggs until they reach an acceptable developmental stage for implantation involves yet another application of ART. When the embryos are about eight cells in size, some or all of them are inserted into a uterus that has been hormonally prepared to accept and implant embryos.

Results

The goal of assisted reproductive technology is to attain a successful pregnancy. The rate of success depends on the type of patient or patients selected, the degree and duration of infertility, the particular procedures used and the skill of the physician or technician. For example, in-vitro fertilization using an egg donor and embryo transfer can carry a success rate as high as 50% per cycle. Every day, more kinds of ART are being studied and existing technology is being perfected, making it possible for many more couples to realize their reproductive dreams.