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Saturday, March 12, 2011

What are the risks and side effects of IVF?

In-vitro Fertilization (IVF) is an infertility treatment that helps thousands of women each year become pregnant. Patients struggling with infertility can undergo infertility testing to determine the source of the problem and the appropriate means of treatment. While IVF has high success rates and rare complications, there are risks and side effects involved in the treatment that patients should be sure to know about beforehand.


Ectopic Pregnancy – Ectopic pregnancy occurs when the pregnancy takes place outside the uterine cavity, usually in the fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies can cause heavy internal bleeding and require immediate treatment. Be sure to ask your doctor what the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy are.

 Multiple pregnancies-IVF usually involves re-implanting more than one embryo into the mother’s uterus to increase the likelihood of a viable pregnancy.  Depending on the number of embryos re-implanted into the mother’s uterus during the IVF procedure, multiple pregnancies may result. The number of embryos re-implanted depends on the age of the patient as well as national legislation in the country performing the treatment. Some countries only allow one or two embryo transfers for the exact purpose of preventing multiple pregnancies.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS): IVF patients take infertility drugs to stimulate the ovaries into producing more eggs than normal. OHSS occurs when the ovaries are stimulated too much. Ten percent of women undergoing IVF treatment experience OHSS, though most cases are mild. In-Vitro Maturation (IVM) is a solution for women at high risks of OHSS because it does not use as many fertility drugs as in regular in-vitro fertilization.

Treatment Failure: While the success rates of IVF continue to rise due to improved treatment methods, the IVF procedure does not guarantee 100% successful pregnancies.

Hypersensitive Emotions
: In addition to the emotions that infertility evokes, many women feel emotionally sensitive as a result of the changing hormones passing through their system. 

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