Home  |  Login  |  Sitemap   
About Aastha Services Patients Interactive Media Contact
Make An Appointment Photo & Video Gallery Our Attraction
SPECIALITY
       Laparoscopy Surgery
       Bariatrics Surgery
       Fertility Center
       Endourology
       Obstetrics and Gynaecology
       Minimally Invasive procedure            for Haemorrhoid (MIPH)
 
Treatment offered
   
  Introduction
  Medical line of treatment
  Surgical intervention
              Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
              In vitro fertilization (IVF)
              Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)
              Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT)
              Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
  Other facilities at Aastha
              Egg Donation
              Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
              Surgical and Non Surgical Sperm Aspiration techniques
              Cryopreservation
 
 
Introduction
 
The feeling of not able to be a mother has a very traumatic effect on the mind of woman. This slowly percolates the relationship between the couples. We understand that managing a case of infertility is never restricted to treating the man's and women physical-related problem alone. It involves psychological treatment also. At Aastha, we have a special team of doctors like nutritionist, psychologist, fertility experts who join hands to handle every case with precision. The physician approaches the case of infertility depending upon the age of the woman and the cause of infertility. The line of treatment is either through medicines or by surgical interventions.
 
 
Medical line of treatment
 
If the man has low levels of certain hormones, an injection can sometimes be given to stimulate the production of sperm. The success of these treatments depends on the nature, severity, and often the duration of the problem. In case the problem lies in the woman, the physician may administer some drugs that promote fertility in the woman. These are mainly hormonal supplements. These medications increase progesterone and Human chorionic gonadotropin that are required for proper implantation of foetus. If the problem is linked to life style, such as substance abuse or being overweight, the problem is specifically attended. When the cause of infertility is due to STD, endometriosis, cyst in ovaries etc., then these problems are addressed first.
 
 
Surgical Intervention
 
Problems that can't be treated by drugs may be treated by surgery. E.g. If the fallopian tubes of the woman are blocked, surgery may be done to open or remove them. Surgery also may be done to remove growths, scarring or to treat endometriosis. Similarly in man, if the vas or other parts of the reproductive tract are blocked, microsurgery is usually successful in cutting out the blocked area and reconnecting the cut segments.
Assisted reproductive technology (ART) uses special methods to help infertile couples. Although various definitions have been used, ART includes all fertility treatments in which both eggs and sperm are manipulated. Success rates vary and depend on many factors. ART can be expensive and time-consuming. But ART has made it possible for many couples to have children that otherwise would not have been conceived. Let us see various techniques of ART:

 

  • Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

    IUI results in a significant increase in the amount of sperm that reach the uterus because the procedure bypasses the vagina and the cervix. It can be helpful in women with thick cervical mucous and also in men who have lower sperm counts.












  • In vitro fertilization (IVF)

    This procedure became famous in 1978 with the birth of Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby." IVF is now very commonly used when a woman's fallopian tubes are blocked or when a man has low sperm. The eggs are fertilized outside the human body and then only the healthy fertilized eggs (embryos) are placed in the woman's uterus, thus bypassing the fallopian tubes.





  • Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)

    A variation of the IVF procedure is gamete intrafallopian transfer, or GIFT. A woman must have at least one healthy fallopian tube for this technique to be tried. As in IVF, drugs are used to produce multiple eggs in the woman's ovaries. The eggs are collected, usually by laparoscopy, just before ovulation is to occur. Two or three eggs are mixed with the man's sperm. The eggs and sperm are placed in the woman's fallopian tube for fertilization to take place there. Some fertility centres use a combination of IVF and GIFT.

  • Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT)

    This method is also called tubal embryo transfer. It combines IVF and GIFT. It involves the same retrieval of ova and semen, and fertilization and growth in the laboratory up to the zygote stage, at which point the zygotes are placed in the fallopian tubes. Both GIFT and ZIFT seem to have higher success rates than IVF.
 
Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

Until the 90's males with very low counts (less than 5 million per ml) or poor quality sperms had no hope of fathering children. This problem was surmounted by the new breakthrough of ICSI, which took place in 1992. but if the sperm count is good enough for fertilization with IVF, ICSI is not opted.
 
 
Other facilities at Aastha
 

Besides ART, there are also other procedures which are carried out depending upon the age of the couple and the problem. In this day and age more and more career oriented women are getting married late in life. By the time they start planning to have children; they are nearing the fourth decade of their life (40 years). Women after the age of 40 tend to have fewer eggs in their ovaries or the quality of the eggs they produce may be poor. Thus, even new technologies like IVF and ICSI may not ensure a successful pregnancy. Furthermore, after the age of 40 to 42, many women stop producing eggs as they enter the stage of Perimenopause (decreased periods) or menopause (stoppage of periods). So this new technique of Egg Donation has come as a blessing to many such women. Besides this, medical science has also grown to the extent that it can now bring joy of hope to couples who are carriers of any genetic disorder. Aastha offers the following new technologies (egg donation, PGD, cryopreservation):

Egg Donation

In egg donation, eggs are borrowed from a young woman (less than 33 yrs of age) called the donor, with her consent. These eggs are then fertilized with the sperms of the husband of the recipient woman and the resultant embryo (the earliest form of the baby), is inserted into the womb of the recipient. The success rate of this procedure is in the region of 30 to 40%. Besides elderly or menopausal women, egg donation can be done in younger women whose ovaries have prematurely failed or in young women who have undergone radiation or chemotherapy for cancer. Radiation or chemotherapy destroys the eggs and hence these women have a failure of their ovaries. Egg donation is also used in patients who are carrying major chromosomal defects so that they do not pass the genetic defect to their children.

Our proficient staff will coordinate the cycles of the donor and recipient to accomplish a fresh embryo transfer whenever possible.

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is the newest procedure for detecting abnormalities in early-fertilized egg and embryos. PGD is the testing of embryos for genetic abnormalities before transferring to the uterus. PGD is typically used if there is a family history of a particular genetic disorder. We offer PGD to couples who have or are carriers of specific genetic disorders. PGD testing can help ensure that healthy embryos are selected for transfer to the uterus.

Abnormal or "unbalanced" chromosomes may result in an embryo not implanting, increased rate of pregnancy loss or result in a child afflicted with severe physical and/or mental problem. For couples who wish to use the services of PDG, we will coordinate your infertility treatment with a cooperating PGD Centre so that your ease of care can be maintained.

Surgical and Non Surgical Sperm Aspiration techniques

When the Semen Analysis shows very poor results many techniques such are used to retrieve sperm for the IVF or ICSI program. The Various techniques are: Vasectomy Reversal, Microscopic Vasovasostomy, Microscopic Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (MESA), Testicular Sperm Retrieval from Biopsy (TESA) and many more.

Sperm retrieval from Testicular Biopsy (TESA) is the most commonly practised procedure. Multiple biopsies have successfully retrieved mature sperm from over 60% of male patients diagnosed as Sertoli cell only syndrome (SCOS) cases.

Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation or freezing allows preservation of sperms in future spontaneous ovulation cycles and embryos in future frozen cycles of IVF. This is an advantage if many eggs are retrieved and fertilized.

Embryo freezing

Saving eggs for future use by fertilizing them with sperm and then freezing them as pre-embryos can be helpful. Frozen pre-embryos can be transferred during subsequent spontaneous (natural) ovulation cycles without subjecting the woman to any additional medications and egg retrieval. At the right time during succeeding treatment cycles, the frozen pre embryos are thawed & transferred into the uterus.

Sperm Banking

Cryopreservation of sperms also is particularly useful when the husband is not living with the wife. This allows the wife to go ahead with the IVF program while the husband is away. Sperm freezing is also relevant for patients undergoing surgery or radiation or chemotherapy that can affect their fertility. Sperm can be frozen before the therapy and maybe later used for an IVF or ICSI program if desired.

 
 
Copyright 2006 Aastha Healthcare - All Rights Reserved Website Developed and maintained by Web-mantra.com