Test tube babies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are no more exotic. Moreover, in vitro fertilization is now the basic way to solve the problem of sterility worldwide. However, IVF is a relatively new method that is still shrouded in mystery.
The stages of IVF:
1. The integrated investigation of a couple. Some kinds of sterility can be cured medicamentally or surgically without IVF; in some cases, the conception is not possible at all.
2. If IVF is reasonable, the woman begins to take hormonal agents to stimulate the growth and ripening of at once several folliculi containing ova in the ovaries.
3. After the ripening of the folliculi the ova are retrieved from them with a special needle under anesthesia and ultrasound control. The man must provide his semen during that process. If the semen generation is disturbed, the spermatozoa are derived through puncture or biopsy of the testicle.
4. The ova placed in a special nutrient solution are fertilized with sperm suspension prepared in the embryological laboratory. If sperm cells cannot penetrate the ovum, there is a solution too: the only spermatozoon is put into the ovum with a glass needle under the microscope (the operation is known as the intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI).
5. The fertilized ova are placed into the incubator, where the development of embryos begins. On the third day, when the embryos consist of eight cells only, they are transferred with a catheter into the uterine cavity for bearing. There are usually several embryos transferred into the womb (by the Russian laws - no more than three) in order to increase the chances for pregnancy.
More than three million children have been born through IVF worldwide. However, the lack of the comprehensive information about the consequences of applying this method gives many reasons for doubt. Some presume that interfering in the natural way of conception leads to the birth of defective children. Others say that IVF endangers the health of mothers and their children and ruins the gene pool of mankind.
The most widespread concerns are listed below.
The first: ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome
Nadezhda Mitrofanova from Moscow, 34 years old, suffered from this syndrome. She got nausea, pain in the lower part of the stomach and general sickness after the transfer of embryos and the beginning of pregnancy due to IVF. Her attending obstetrician-gynecologist said that the liquid had begun to gather in the abdominal cavity. The doctors had to puncture the stomach to let the liquid out, but things have come out right, and she became a happy mother three months ago.
Valeriy M. Zdanovskiy, Doctor of Medical Sciences:
sections: Nature & Health |
Russian News
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