The Actual Treatment

After going through one or several of the above-mentioned examinations, the specialist, together with you, produces a plan for the treatment. The plan takes its starting point in exactly those conditions that makes pregnancy difficult for you. You have reason to be optimistic, on average 70% of those couples, who makes use of all treatments offers, have a child. Meanwhile, it is important for you to consider how far you are willing to go and how much energy you are willing to spend on the treatments.

The different treatments are described with starting point in the previously mentioned four steps.

Step 1
If you are inexplicably childless or the man’s sperm quality is slightly decreased the doctor will be able to help with insemination.

Insemination with the man’s own spermInsemination with sperm from a donorIn vitro fertilisation (IVF)
Micro insemination (ICSI)
Insemination with the man’s own sperm

In the case of insemination, the doctor places the man’s sperm (washed sperm) in the uterus precisely at the time when the woman ovulates. The doctor injects the sperm up through a fine plastic tube that has been inserted up into the uterus. The doctor can make sure that the woman ovulates by stimulating her with hormones and perform ultrasound scans. The insemination itself is painless. The chance of pregnancy, with every insemination is 10-15%.

Insemination with sperm from a donor
Insemination with sperm from a donor is done when the man’s sperm quality is severely decreased and the couple does not desire micro insemination (ICSI)

If the woman is fertile the insemination with another man’s sperm is an option. However, this is an option that demands careful consideration from both of you.

The sperm from the donor is taken up into the uterus at a time when the doctor is certain that the woman is ovulation. The results are good.

Step 2
If the cause of involuntary childlessness is lack of ovulation, there is the option of stimulation with hormones or using eggs from a donor.

Stimulation with hormones
Lack of ovulation is the most common cause of childlessness and appears in almost all cases by irregular menstruations. It is possible to induce ovulation with hormone tablets or injections.

The method is usually combined with insemination to achieve as big a chance as possible for pregnancy.

Using eggs from a donor
In the case of early menopause and certain hereditary conditions, the woman does not produce eggs at all. In that case the donation of eggs is a possibility. As is the case with sperm from a donor, treatment with eggs from a donor demands careful consideration.

Step 3
The man’s own sperm is used to fertilise eggs from a donor, which are thereafter put into the uterus. If the sperm cannot fertilise the egg inside the woman’s body, it can be done outside the woman’s body – in vitro fertilisation. In some cases, the sperm cannot enter the egg – not even in the test tube – but has to be helped by a method called micro insemination.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF)
The first child born from in vitro fertilisation entered the world in England in 1978, a fine healthy baby. And since then, many involuntarily childless have become parents from in vitro fertilisation. It is the woman’s own egg and the man’s own sperm that creates the child which is born by the mother naturally.

From the aid of hormones the woman is stimulated to producing 6-8 eggs or more. The woman’s eggs are extracted and placed in a highly nutritious fluid. Hereafter, the man’s sperm is added and the fertilisation takes place. After 2-5 days culture in an incubator the fertilised egg is placed in the uterus. So fertilisation takes place outside the woman’s body. The chance of pregnancy is 30-40% with every treatment.

Micro Insemination
With some couples the problem that the sperm cannot enter the egg and fertilise it by itself arises. In those cases, the sperm is helped inside the egg.

Otherwise, micro insemination takes place the same way as in vitro fertilisation. The doctor extracts the woman’s egg and a sperm is inserted into the egg. Herafter, the egg is cultured in an incubator and the fertilised egg is placed in the uterus.

The chance of pregnancy is 30-40% with every treatment.

Step 4
Surgery on the Fallopian tube
If the Fallopian tubes are closed it is possible to open them by surgery, however, the results are often not that good.

In special cases, there are conditions in the uterus that hinder the fertilised egg from attaching. In that case, surgery is an option.