FERTILITY TREATMENTS FOR WOMEN

     Once diagnosed with infertility in  a woman, the overall probability of a successful treatment is 50%. 

Successful treatment depends on:

The underlying cause of the problem

The age of the woman

The history of previous pregnancies

How long you have had the problem causing infertility

Fertility treatments are more likely to work in women whose infertility is caused by problems with ovulation. Fertility treatment is less likely to function in women whose infertility is caused lesions in fallopian tubes or severe endometriosis. 1

In many cases, the first step in treating infertility is to treat the underlying cause of it. For example, if a thyroid condition causes a hormonal imbalance, medications for this disease can solve infertility.

Fertility treatments for women enroll in one of these categories:

Drug treatments for female infertility

Surgery treatments for female infertility

Assisted reproductive technology (ART acronym)

Drug treatments for female infertility

The most common drugs used to treat infertility help stimulate ovulation. Examples of these types of drugs are two :

Clomiphene or clomiphene citrate

Gonadotropins or human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG by its acronym in English)

Bromocriptine or cabergoline

Clomiphene or clomiphene citrate

Clomiphene is a drug that patients taken orally (by mouth). It causes the body to produce more of the hormones needed to mature the eggs in the ovaries. 2 If a woman does not become pregnant after taking clomiphene for six menstrual cycles, the health professional may tell other fertility treatments.

Patients taking clomiphene on days 3-5 of the menstrual cycle.

Clomiphene ovulation occurs in 80% of treated women. About half of the cases that do ovulate achieve a pregnancy or the birth of a living child. 2

The use of clomiphene increases the risk of having a multiple pregnancy. There is a 10% chance of having twins, but rare is the case of triplets or more less than 1% of cases.

Gonadotropins or human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)

The gonadotropins are hormones that women are injected directly to stimulate the growth of eggs in the ovaries, leading to ovulation. 2 The health professionals usually prescribed gonadotropins when a woman does not respond to clomiphene or to stimulate the growth of follicles for ART.

Gonadotropins are injected from day 2 or day 3 of the menstrual cycle for between 7 and 12 days.

While women receiving treatment with gonadotropins, a professional health care provider makes a transvaginal ultrasound to control the size of the eggs that are being developed, which grow in small pockets called follicles. Health professionals also frequently draw blood to check estrogen production in the ovaries.

The probability of multiple pregnancy is higher with gonadotropins than with clomiphene; 30% of women who achieve pregnancy with this drug has multiple births. About two - thirds of multiple pregnancies are twins. Triplets or higher multiple births belong to the remaining third.

HCG is similar to luteinizing hormone that can be used to cause the release of the egg after the follicles have developed hormone.

Bromocriptine or cabergoline

Bromocriptine and cabergoline are pills taken orally to treat abnormally high levels of the hormone prolactin, which can prevent ovulation. Some medications, kidney disease or thyroid can cause high levels of prolactin.

Bromocriptine or cabergoline allow 90% of women have normal prolactin levels. 1

Once prolactin levels are normal, 85% of women taking bromocriptine or cabergoline fail to ovulate. 1

Surgery treatments for female infertility

If the cause of infertility is a disease in the fallopian tubes, tubal surgery can repair or remove obstructions. The success rates of this type of surgery, however, are low. Surgeries involving the fallopian tubes also increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy that occurs outside the úterus. Ectopic pregnancies are also called "tubal pregnancies" because usually occur in one of the fallopian tubes.

It has been found that surgery to remove areas of endometriosis doubles the chances of achieving a pregnancy.