Never compromise on good quality treatment, says fertility expert

Delaying pregnancy for different reasons is a common choice being made by women today.

 
Cheap In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a dream that will be difficult to come true, according to a fertility expert who advises couples not to compromise on quality.
Dr Mohamed Elkalyoubi, consultant, obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive medicine at Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre (DGFC), said: "IVF is an expensive treatment globally and setting up a centre with up-to-date equipment and using high quality consumables is not cheap."
Hiring highly qualified doctors, embryologists, IVF nurses and other staff is also expensive. "Compromising on quality will reduce the pregnancy rate and compromising on safety will not only increase patients' complications but may also affect the couples' chance of having a future child," he said.
Improved reproductive medicine has vastly improved management of infertile patients, according to Dr Elkalyoubi. "DGFC was one of the early centres in the region to adopt tailored patient ovarian stimulation protocols which significantly improved the pregnancy rates. Our senior embryologists have successfully introduced the use of embryo glue for cases with recurrent IVF failure. This is in addition to lots of other processes that include pre-implantation diagnosis to reducing the risk of transferring an abnormal embryo," he added.
Dr Elkalyoubi said that any healthy live birth is a story of success. "So far, we have had these joyful moments with more than 4,000 couples."
The expert also said that delaying pregnancy for different reasons is a common choice being made by women today. "Women are born with a certain number of eggs that they consume over their reproductive life. It is a fact that there is a decrease in the chance of pregnancy with advancing age of both women and men, although it happens earlier with women," he explained.
In some, the ovary starts to age and produce less good quality eggs from the early thirties. "The majority, however, starts from mid to late 30s." The rapid decline in the process of ovarian aging starts when women reach their 40s. While the risk of childlessness is around five per cent for married women at the age of 20-25 years, it increases to 63 per cent at the age of 40-44 years. Infertility treatment may help 70 per cent of those who are below 30 to achieve pregnancy using simple medications compared to only 40 per cent of those around the age of 40 years with most of them using the highest techniques of IVF.
"Nothing, including the highest technology that we reached in 2017, will compensate for the natural decline of fecundity that occurs over time," he added.
However, simple lifestyle can improve chances of conception for couples. "This includes a healthy diet, a low caloric diet if weight reduction is needed, exercise, elimination of toxins like smoking and alcohol intake, drugs and anabolic steroids that some men are using can damage their testes and affect their sperms," said Dr Elkalyoubi.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
 
 

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