Artificial Insemination Fertility Treatments
See a fertility specialist now
We're a national network of over 100 fertility specialists.
Today, infertile couples have a wide range of treatment options. Many factors will
affect your decisions in pursuing infertility treatment. Be sure to consider time
commitment, costs, insurance coverage, job and career goals, religious beliefs,
cooperation between partners, medical diagnosis, emotional energy, and your
current situation.
After a diagnosis of infertility, the couple and their physician jointly decide
upon the best treatment plan based on their specific situation. Treatment options
include:
Conventional Infertility Treatments
The majority of couples with infertility can be helped through conventional
infertility treatments. Following the diagnosis of infertility, physicians usually
first consider hormonal therapy and
surgical procedures, sometimes enhanced by
intrauterine insemination (IUI).
These can be less intrusive and less expensive
than ART procedures.
IVF and other ART Procedures (Artificial Insemination)
The more advanced fertility procedures that involve removing eggs from the female
partner or a donor are collectively known as assisted reproductive technologies
(ART). These procedures give physicians the ability to bypass or correct some
obstacles in the natural reproductive cycle. ART is often used after hormonal
therapy alone fails.
Most ART procedures involve a common set of steps that are based on
in vitro fertilization (IVF),
the artificial insemination process used for the first "test
tube baby." In IVF, the doctor uses hormonal medications to stimulate the ovaries,
gathers the eggs, fertilizes the eggs in vitro (outside the body), then transfers
the resulting embryos through the cervix into the uterus.
After a thorough workup, the practitioner suggests a treatment that best suits the
couple's specific situation, either IVF or one of the other ART procedures
available today.
Male factor infertility may benefit from microfertilization processes, such as
ICSI, which uses one sperm to fertilize an egg.
Female factor infertility may benefit from egg donation, which allows the woman to
experience pregnancy and childbirth. It also allows the man to be the biological
father to his child.
See a fertility specialist now
We're a national network of over 100 fertility specialists.