Assisted Conception (Fertility Treatment)
There is a range of services regarding assisted conception, which are described below. Programmes are tailored to patients’ individual needs, and all stages of treatment are fully disussed. Informed decisions can then be made and patients will be aware of what is involved at all stages.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
IVF literally means the joining of an egg and a sperm in a glass container. In IVF, the ovaries are stimulated with specialised fertility drugs to produce a number of eggs. When mature, these are then collected and mixed with sperm to try to achieve fertilisation. If this occurs, the fertilised eggs are then transferred into the womb.
Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI)
Success rates in many assisted conception techniques have been shown to increase when combined with IUI. This involves selection of the best swimming sperm in a similar manner to that used for IVF, a small volume of this sample is passed through a fine tube into the uterus around the time the egg is released.
Ovulation Induction
Ovulation Induction is used for women who are diagnosed as having problems producing eggs. It is also used for women who have unexplained infertility.
Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
This is the most succesful assisted fertilisation treatment for male infertility. For ICSI, IVF is performed on the women and then direct injection of a single sperm into the centre of each egg is attempted. It is extermely useful where semen counts are extremely low.