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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) 5-15% of all woman within the fertile age are affected by polycystic ovaries (PCOS) mainly because there is no cure. The main tell-tale sign of PCOS is lack of ovulation, leading to irregular periods and increased levels of male hormones. Other symptoms related to PCOS that some woman may experience is… View Article
A lot of us have a general idea of how important progesterone is during pregnancy, knowing that the progesterone-oestrogen balance is important for the menstrual cycle and a healthy hormone balance. For most of the non-medical community, that’s probably the extent of the awareness. Now, new research, unveiled at the 35th European Society of Human… View Article
New research conducted by IVI has revealed important new discoveries in the field of embryo selection as part of the IVF process. This is highly significant because improved embryo selection is key to IVF success rates and can therefore help more people in their ambition build their families. These exciting advances were presented to a… View Article
Egg donation or the use of sperm from a sperm donor has long been successful fertility techniques. These are often but not exclusively used by people for whom other interventions have not been successful. In the past, major concerns about these techniques have been the health of the resulting offspring and the extent to which… View Article
Anejaculation simply means no ejaculation and it is defined as an inability to ejaculate semen. Men who have this condition can produce sperm, but these are not expelled during ejaculation even though there can be normal orgasmic sensation. Clearly this situation has implications for male fertility and the ability to become a parent. The condition… View Article
Research by the world’s largest assisted reproduction group, IVI, has revealed some vital statistics concerning fertility preservation. The results will be of compelling interest for those considering the possibility of delaying motherhood through the freezing of oocytes. They found that success rates were significantly higher – showing a 40% increase – when the first stage… View Article
Fibroids are small growths inside the uterus and the condition is surprisingly common, with around 1 in 3 women developing them at some time in their lives. In many cases there is no need for fibroid removal and they often diminish over time, particularly after the menopause. In fact many people only discover that they… View Article
In just the same way as there’s no such thing as being ‘a little bit pregnant’, when you take a pregnancy test at home, there should ideally be no such thing as an ambiguous result. But unfortunately that is in fact sometimes the case. Even though a faint positive pregnancy test sounds almost as illogical… View Article
Pregnancy can be the most wonderful time of life, full of feelings of promise, excitement and, for many people, a time of glowing health and a sense of wellbeing. However, it is also a time of heightened anxiety and fears, some of them non-specific and irrational (but understandable) about a specific danger or risk. For… View Article
A heart-shaped womb may sound picturesque and endearing but in fact it can sometimes, but not always, lead to problems. This is the common term for a bicornuate uterus, a condition in which the womb is literally heart-shaped as opposed to its normal form, often likened to an inverted pear. A heart-shaped womb during pregnancy… View Article
The causes of infertility for couples may originate in the man (30%), in the woman (30%) or sometimes both, but in this IVI blog article we are focusing on infertility in women. The causes of infertility are many and varied. They range from anovulation resulting from physical stress, to hormonal disturbances. Some of the most… View Article
A ground-breaking study into current levels of male fertility has been undertaken by fertility specialists at IVI. It used the largest sample of men ever studied to date in world scientific literature. Its findings confirm what many people have suspected for some time on the basis of anecdotal evidence, and what fertility specialists working in… View Article
For anyone hoping to become pregnant, time can move slowly and days dominate the calendar. We’ve all been told not to wish the time away, but in reality, between the approximate time of ovulation and when your next period is due, it can be very difficult not to wish that the clock would speed up,… View Article
The best-known and most obvious cause of declining female fertility is age, with women’s peak fertility age being during their 20s, and quite a steep decline follows after the age of 35. However there are other causes which can accelerate or exacerbate the natural process of declining fertility. Among these are injuries to the fallopian… View Article
How our bodies function and the changes that occur, both over the years and through the monthly cycle, are always interesting. Never more so than when we are, or are hoping to be, pregnant. There’s almost certainly never a time when we monitor physical phenomena as closely and minutely as when we are hoping to… View Article
Whether you are a woman taking precautions to prevent pregnancy or someone hoping to conceive, the question of fertility seems to be always there in the background. The issue of when a female is most fertile has two aspects. Firstly, there is the point in your monthly menstrual cycle when you are most likely to… View Article
A miscarriage, also known as spontaneous abortion, is defined as the loss of a pregnancy during the first 23 weeks. Miscarriages are much more common than most people realise. Among women who know they’re pregnant, it’s estimated that about 1 in 8 pregnancies will end in miscarriage. Many more miscarriages occur before a woman is… View Article
The decision to try for a baby can feel like a momentous moment in your life, whether for an individual or couple. When the desired pregnancy fails to materialise, we can feel surprised, let down and worried, especially when we have probably spent a significant amount of time taking precautions to prevent an unplanned pregnancy… View Article
In this article we intend to offer a broad-brush summary of what options may be available to people with concerns about their own or their partner’s fertility and who may be considering fertility treatment or infertility treatment. Inevitably a quick overview summary cannot cover any one of the fertility treatments in depth but for those… View Article
One of the most common questions that arises for people who experienced infertility or reduced fertility is concerned with the use of fertility drugs. What drugs are available, are they effective and are there any dangers and side effects? The answers to these questions fall mainly into two different areas: ‘standalone’ drugs, i.e. those which… View Article
For anyone, being diagnosed with a serious illness is a major life event in itself, inevitably accompanied by fears and uncertainties about the future. For a woman who has not started or completed her family and wishes to do so, an added burden may be the knowledge that the necessary treatment could itself cause… View Article
In Vitro Fertilisation has been part of the medical and social landscape for 40 years, and even though it is a familiar concept, we don’t always know what it means. In this article we get back to basics and set out the definition of IVF in straightforward terms and explain exactly what is involved in… View Article
We are seeing a growing level of awareness that problems with infertility, far from being exclusively ‘women’s problems’ are in reality often attributable to male factors. In fact, current estimates are that between one third and 40% of all infertility cases arise from this cause. And within that group, the vast majority, 90% of cases,… View Article
For a significant part of every woman’s life, and for men too, understanding how to know if you’re infertile or fertile, and if so at which times, is a burning question. This applies equally for those who wish to avoid pregnancy, at least for the time being, and to those who would like to… View Article
In the forty years since the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) assisted reproduction technique was first successfully carried out, there have been many very significant developments and refinements of the method. One of the most important of these is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, known as ICSI. This has enabled pregnancy to be achieved successfully in couples diagnosed with… View Article
Secondary infertility is the inability to become pregnant or to carry a baby to term after previously giving birth to a baby. This cool and clinical description defines the term accurately, but can’t begin to describe the bewilderment, anxiety and sheer pain that patients experiencing secondary infertility can feel. Very often the feeling of loss… View Article
IVI, the largest assisted reproduction group in the world, has been offering the most advanced and effective assisted fertility treatments for more than 27 years, thanks to which more than 160,000 babies have been born to date. However, this is not the full story of how the organisation works. It is also at the… View Article
As every child waiting impatiently and counting down the days in the run-up to Christmas knows, time has the perverse tendency to slow down exactly when you want it to pass quickly. Or at least that’s how it feels. For anyone undergoing a cycle of IVF, the IVF two-week wait to find out at… View Article
It’s only been 40 years since the birth of Louise Brown, the very first human to be born following conception by In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). In that relatively short period of time, the individual herself has become a mother of two healthy children and what seemed then to be a miracle of futuristic science… View Article
The ovarian reserve simply describes the number of egg follicles remaining in a woman’s ovaries. Clearly the ovarian reserve therefore has implications for fertility or infertility, but it is not a simple yardstick. It is quite possible to have a low ovarian reserve and still conceive naturally, or to have a high reserve and… View Article
There’s no doubt that the experience of a longed-for pregnancy can be one of the most rewarding times of your life. But the transition from early pregnancy to new parenthood can be beset by problems. Some of these are relatively minor, though irritating, such as indigestion or heartburn, tiredness and the need for frequent… View Article
VI Baby is a new concept that has been introduced with the aim of offering patients peace of mind and the certainty that they will achieve their objective. IVI Baby offers an answer to their fears and uncertainty. It is the promise and guarantee that their dream of having a baby will come true.
