Unfortunately, infertility is a reality and it is very very common too. It is very unfortunate to see that only just a fraction of needy people are able to benefit from the plethora of treatments available nowadays. Lack of correct information and propagation of myths by word of mouth is a very big hindrance that stops people from availing the correct treatment.
In this article, specialists from Nisha IVF which is one of the best IVF centre in Ahmedabad are going to talk about various myths associated with IVF treatment. They will also present correct facts related to these topics.
Table of Contents
IVF & Cancer
The first myth that everyone is afraid of is the chance of cancer. “It is a complete myth that IVF can cause breast carcinoma or any other sort of cancer. The reason for cancer is totally different & has no link with the IVF procedure.” Says Dr. Sandeep Nayak who is one of the best oncologist in India. So, there is no need to worry about cancer or any other associated risks.
IVF- Not A Natural Process
Many people believe that IVF is not a natural process and so the baby that will result will also not be normal and could be malformed. This however is not true IVF is merely a replication of the natural process of fertilization. Consider a couple in whom the fallopian tubes in the woman are blocked. Now no matter how good an egg the woman partner might have, no matter how good a sperm the male partner might have if there’s a blockage in the fallopian tubes this egg and the sperm cannot meet, and hence the baby will not be formed. So this couple will now keep suffering from infertility unless they go in for IVF.
In IVF doctors will give hormonal injections to the woman so as to get her eggs mature. Once matured they will give small anesthesia to the woman putting a thin needle into her ovary and bring her eggs out of her body to the lab Now they will ask the husband to give semen sample and then these eggs and sperms will be kept together providing them a favorable environment to be able to meet. So now fertilization that was supposed to occur in the body has now occurred outside the body in the lab. The procedure however stayed the same. Once a baby is formed now it can be transferred back into the uterus of the mother. Every step is done exactly how it happens in nature in the body making it just an assisted procedure that would now help these otherwise infertile couples to become parents. There is nothing synthetic or artificial about the procedure. In fact, once the baby is transferred back into the uterus an IVF pregnancy would proceed just like any other naturally conceived one
IVF- The Last Option
IVF Increases The Chances Of Twins Or Triplets
Another myth is that IVF should be the last option for infertility treatment. Some of the patients really insist that firstly they should be given some medicines to eat or some injections and once these fail then IUI should be done and only once everything else has failed then only maybe IVF can be thought of. Now, this is completely false and unscientific. For example like in a patient with both the tubes blocked, even if doctors keep giving medicines the egg and sperm cannot meet and so IVF will be the only treatment of choice no matter the age of the patient. Any other treatment in such cases would be a wastage of time, energy, and resources because it will not result in pregnancy. So the treatment plan should depend upon the cause of infertility and will vary from couple to couple.
IVF- A Costly Treatment
Another myth about IVF is that it is a very costly treatment and is only for rich people, not everyone can afford it, Now this is only partially correct. A few years back one cycle of IVF used to cost around four to five lakhs.
However, with more and more people now moving towards IVF and with the availability of better and newer technologies not only the cost of IVF per cycle has come down but also the average income and paying capacity of people has also increased making it well within the reach of most of the people.
IVF- A Painful Process
Many people believe that IVF is a very painful procedure. This again is not true. The injections that patients get during IVF are not painful. The procedure of egg retrieval is done under anesthesia and the embryo transfer procedure is just like any other gyro examination. So IVF is actually not a painful procedure.
IVF Increases The Chances Of Twins Or Triplets
Many people believe that they will only have either twins or triplets after IVF. We do agree that the chances of multiple pregnancies do increase with IVF but this depends upon the number of embryos transferred and so this must be discussed with the doctor before the transfer. Many of the standard and good IVF clinics are in fact nowadays moving on to the practice of what we call SET or single embryo transfer. The best embryo that is formed is transferred and the rest are frozen for subsequent use in case one needs it.
