Fertility
Nowadays, one out of ten couples has problem of infertility. Infertility is a condition when the body's most basic function for conceiving baby is impaired. Infertility is the inability of a couple to conceive after a year of regular unprotected intercourse. By definition, normal frequency of intercourse is twice a week.
In the olden days, infertility is a shameful topic and the blame is usually on the wife who is unable to conceive. The causes of infertility can be traced to the female in 30% of cases, the male in 30% and both female and male in another 30%. In the remaining 10%, the cause remains unknown despite all relevant tests to determine the cause of infertility have been performed. There is always hope for these couples, those with known cause as well as those with unknown causes.
There had been a lot of efforts done to Since the birth of world first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in July 1978, assisted reproductive techniques (ART) have improved dramatically. Assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are treatments designed for these infertile couples to help them to have babies of their own. There are various types of ART available; intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). All of these treatments have one common purpose i.e. to give nature a helping hand by giving a better chance for the eggs and sperm to meet, fuse and fertilize to form embryos.
The first step in managing infertile couples at Metro IVF is investigation. Investigation is important to find out the reasons of having problem in conceiving. Meanwhile, our doctors will give medical treatment to the infertile couples and hope that the treatment will work for them. In fact, many infertile couples success to conceive after medical treatment. If medical treatment does not help, more advanced ART such as IUI, IVF, ICSI and blastocyst culture may be indicated. Please bear in mind that you may need 5 to 15 visits for the whole process of infertility investigations and treatments, depending on the treatment that you require.
Milestones of ART Developement
| July 1978 | The world's first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born. |
| 1980 |
Founded of the Bourn Hall Clinic, the first IVF centre in the world, by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards.
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| 1984 | The world's first frozen embryo baby was born. |
| 1991 | The world's first PGD baby was born. |
| 1992 | The world's first ICSI baby was born. |
| The world's first blastocyst transfer baby was born. |
However, IVF only came in Malaysia 15 years ago. Metro IVF, which was established in 1999 and started providing IVF services to Klang community in 2000 and its IVF baby was born in March 2000. Below is a video presentation showing the process of a normal IVf cycle. The IVF cycle is divided into five steps;
| 1. | controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) |
|---|---|
| 2. | oocyte pick-up (OPU), |
| 3. | insemination and embryo cultivation |
| 4. | embryo transfer (ET), and |
| 5. | luteal support. |
Metro IVF IVF Baby in 2000
This video presentation shows the whole process of IVF treatment done for our IVF baby born in 2000. The mother was started with COH on 28 June 1999. Later, OPU and ET were done on 26 and 28 July respectively and two embryos were transferred back. Gestational sac was deteced by ultrasound scan four weeks after ET. Eight months later, a baby girl was delivered by Caesarean Section.
