Tag: #GetPregnant

What is a cryocycle?

Dr.Moroz.IVF

Cryocycle means usage of frozen embryos in repeated treatment cycles. In a treatment cycle like this, the multifollicular ovarian stimulation is not performed, and this leads to alower hormonal influence on the organism of the future mother. This significantly increases the chances for pregnancy onset.

Cryocycle is recommended in the following cases:
• after failed IVF attempt;
• if the couple already has plans for the second and third child while planning their first IVF;
• if there is a cancer condition and the upcoming treatment may affect further ability to reproduction;
• in the presence of diabetes mellitus or azoospermia in men.

The appliance of cryocycle has a number of advantages for the patient, namely:
• an opportunity to postpone the implantation of the embryo into the uterine cavity for the time needed for woman’s body to restore after hormonal hyperstimulation. By postponing the embryo transfer for a month or more, doctors are able to stabilize the hormones, therefore the probability of successful IVF program increases significantly;
• an opportunity to avoid one of the most dangerous complications of IVF program – multiple pregnancy. The development of multiple pregnancy has great risks for the successful pregnancy flow and the birth of healthy children;
• an opportunity to perform genetic diagnosis of the embryo using NGS method, which makes possible to identify embryos bearing chromosomal pathology and thus prevent failed IVF due to the natural ability of the uterus to reject an unhealthy embryo;
• reduction of financial costs of patients if the first IVF attempt failed – cryocycle allows avoiding repeated ovulation stimulation and using.

Inna Moroz, MD

Vitrification: the essence of the method & its advantages

Dr.Moroz.IVF

I’m getting a lots of questions about it and would love to share some insights with you. During IVF, my patients hear such term as “vitrification”, but, in most cases, they have no idea what it actually means. And yet, exactly with the help of vitrification one can significantly increase the chances of successful pregnancy, simplify the scheme of infertility treatment and finally welcome long-awaited healthy baby.

The question of preserving living and functional cells outside the body is of vital importance in modern medicine and affects many of its area, but it is most pressing during in vitro fertilization, when cryopreservation becomes of special necessity for not only individual cells – gametes, but also for the whole organism in the preimplantation phase development – the embryo. With what purpose? First of all, this procedure allows patients with a low ovarian reserve to save embryos, and to save eggs if, due to personal reasons, woman does not plan her pregnancy in the upcoming years. Secondly, cryocycle lowers the chances for having a severe IVF complication – ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, and an onset of multiple pregnancy. Thirdly, the need for oocytes and embryos vitrification emerges after the first failed transfer. In order to avoid repeated selection, vitrified biomaterial is used.

The most promising and rapidly developing area in cryoembryology is vitrification, which is gradually replacing the previous traditional method of slow freezing. Basically, vitrification consists of appliance of high cryoprotectant concentrations that further help avoiding the formation of ice crystals – the main cause of intracellular damage that happened with the previous method of embryo freezing. Germ cells can be preserved for a much longer time without reducing their viability – this is the main advantage of this new technique, compared to traditional cryopreservation. In addition, this method practically reduces to zero any probability of cells damage during the freezing process. At the same time, the effectiveness of IVF remains the same or becomes higher: after warming up, more than 95% of embryos and oocytes retain their viability and can be used in IVF program.

Inna Moroz, MD

Infertility Treatment For Men

Dr.Moroz.IVF

Altering lifestyle factors. Improving lifestyle and behavioral factors can improve chances for pregnancy, including discontinuing select medications, reducing/eliminating harmful substances, improving frequency and timing of intercourse, establishing regular exercise, and optimizing other factors that may otherwise impair fertility.

Medications. Certain medications may improve a man’s sperm count and the likelihood of achieving a successful pregnancy. These medicines may increase testicular function, including sperm production and quality.

Surgery. In select conditions, surgery may be able to reverse a sperm blockage and restore fertility. In other cases, surgically repairing a varicocele may improve overall chances for pregnancy.

Sperm retrieval. These techniques obtain sperm when ejaculation is a problem or when no sperm are present in the ejaculated fluid. They may also be used in cases where assisted reproductive techniques are planned and sperm counts are low or otherwise abnormal.

Inna Moroz, MD

Assisted reproductive technology (ART)

Dr.Moroz.IVF

What is ART?

ART is any fertility treatment in which the egg and sperm are handled. An ART health team includes physicians, psychologists, embryologists, lab technicians, nurses and allied health professionals who work together to help infertile couples achieve pregnancy.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most common ART technique. It involves stimulating and retrieving multiple mature eggs from a woman, fertilizing them with a man’s sperm in a dish in a lab, and implanting the embryos in the uterus three to five days after fertilization. Other techniques are sometimes used in an IVF cycle, such as:

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
A single healthy sperm is injected directly into a mature egg. ICSI is often used when there is poor semen quality or quantity, or if fertilization attempts during prior IVF cycles failed.

Assisted hatching. This technique assists the implantation of the embryo into the lining of the uterus by opening the outer covering of the embryo (hatching).

Donor eggs or sperm. Most ART is done using the woman’s own eggs and her partner’s sperm. However, if there are severe problems with either the eggs or sperm, you may choose to use eggs, sperm or embryos from a known or anonymous donor.

Gestational carrier. Women who don’t have a functional uterus or for whom pregnancy poses a serious health risk might choose IVF using a gestational carrier. In this case, the couple’s embryo is placed in the uterus of the carrier for pregnancy.

Inna Moroz, MD

Reproductive Medicine

Dr.Moroz.IVF

Most of the people are planning to become happy parents when the right time comes. Of course, to create a new life, both man and woman need to have a completely healthy reproductive system. However, this system is a fine and complicated mechanism that unfortunately does not work like a charm at times. Nowadays, when a family faces problems of such kind, they lay big hopes on reproductive medicine.

Inna Moroz, MD