All you wanted to know about embryo transfer
The
day when our in-vitro embryos return back to us (to their mama !) is
one of the most exciting moments of an IVF cycle. We forget the
struggles we went through when we are admiring our microscopic babies
under the microscope. Embryo transfer is one of the rate-limiting steps
in an IVF cycle and plays a pivotal role in determining IVF success.
Since the invention of IVF, major developments have been made in ovarian
stimulation protocols; the way oocytes are collected ; and in the IVF
lab; but the
embryo transfer method remains largely unchanged. Embryo transfer done
badly by an
inexperienced doctor can change th...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 28, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Health In vitro fertilisation India Uterus ivf Embryo transfer Infertility Source Type: blogs
Nano IVF
With the mushrooming of IVF clinics all across the country, I hope that the quality of care for IVF patients in India will improve. Unfortunately, the tragedy seems to be that most IVF clinics are just copying each other. They are competing for the same set of patients and doing exactly the same thing. They aggressively super ovulate their patients with high doses of injections ; and use agonists and antagonists for down regulation . They copy the protocols which are laid down in western textbooks and western journals , without taking into account the fact that these have been optimized for Western patients - n...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 25, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Clinic In vitro fertilisation India ivf patient Infertility ovulation Physician Source Type: blogs
Why me ? A guide for the infertile couple searching for answers !
Why do bad things happen to good people ? Why do good people suffer ? This question arises in our mind many a time , but most frequently when we are suffering ourselves. Most infertile couples ask themselves - ‘Why is this happening to me?’ I am a good person. I haven’t done any harm to anyone. I am fond of children. When everyone around me has children so easily, why am I doomed to suffer physically, financially , socially and emotionally ? Did I do something wrong ? Is it a punishment from God ? Why is the natural happiness of having children denied to me ?” Most of the time , there are no answers to ...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 16, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Health In vitro fertilisation Pain Shopping Human Bhagavad Gita Child Infertility Source Type: blogs
IVF success story for couple from Mumbai
We are a couple from Mumbai who were trying to become parents after 2 years of our marriage (2007). But when it did not happen , we went to a General Gynaecologist. Gynac tried couple of things and prescribed medicines , but still no success , even after 4 months of doing ultrasounds and blood tests reports, all of which were normal. The doctor then suggested laparoscopy to see whether the tubes were open or not. We wondered that if medical science has advanced so much, why is there a requirement of laparoscopy just to find out if the tubes are open or closed, as were reluctant to undergo surgery. We took a second op...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 15, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: In vitro fertilisation India Malpani ivf Growth factor Mumbai AKT Human chorionic gonadotropin Source Type: blogs
Does taking supplements help IVF patients ?
Practically all women doing IVF are taking supplements of one sort or
another ! These are supposed to improve egg yield, egg quality and
embryo implantation , thus helping to improve IVF pregnancy rates. I
have come across women who take over 10 different supplements daily –
and I wonder how they manage to swallow so many different tablets,
syrups and capsules in a day ! On second thoughts thought, it is not
surprising , because the craving for a baby can make a woman move heaven
and earth; which means taking umpteen supplements is not such a
difficult task to accomplish. I have heard the following qu...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 14, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Food and Drug Administration Vitamin B In vitro fertilisation Aspirin Polycystic ovary syndrome Vitamin C Antioxidant Vitamin D Source Type: blogs
Why do doctors want to be so busy ?
Some doctors are proud of the fact that they have a waiting room which is full of patients who are waiting patiently in line to see them . They routinely make patients wait for 2 to 3 hours - and boast that patients are willing to put up with so much trouble in order to see them. This gratifies their ego ; and testifies to their personal belief that the reason they're so much in demand is because they are so much better than their colleagues and contemporaries . While this may engender a great feeling of satisfaction, I wonder whether this is a sensible approach. It's great to have patients who are waiting to see – after...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 10, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Medicine Health Interpersonal relationship In vitro fertilisation patient Conditions and Diseases Happiness Physician Source Type: blogs
Why is IVF documentation so poor in India ?
I see lots of patients who have failed IVF cycles in other clinics . What breaks my heart is the poor quality of medical documentation they have with them . They are very poorly informed , and don't know the dose of injections used for super ovulation ; what the size of their follicles were ; how many eggs were retrieved; or what the quality of their embryos was. This is very disheartening and disappointing for multiple reasons at multiple levels. Firstly, we can use this to revise and tweak the IVF treatment protocol , so that the patient has a better outcome for their next IVF cycle . If you don't have all this val...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 8, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Clinic Health In vitro fertilisation India ivf patient Embryo Infertility Source Type: blogs
Making sense of your IVF ovarian stimulation treatment protocols
Diagram of the time Menstrual Cycle a - follicle b - maturing follicle c - ovulation d - corpus luteum e - degenerate corpus luteum H O - ovarian histology T - body temperature O L - luteinizing hormone O P - progesterone hormone O E - estradiol hormone O F-S - follicle-stimulating hormone F - follicular phase O - ovulation L - luteal phase M - menstruation E - endometrial histology
Let's start with the basics ! Why do we need to stimulate your ovaries for IVF in the first place ?Your ovaries are the reservoir for your eggs. Eggs are the cells which carry half of the information (genetic blue print) necessary for cr...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 7, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Luteinizing hormone In vitro fertilisation Follicle-stimulating hormone AMH Antral follicle Gonadotropin-releasing hormone FSH Anti-Müllerian hormone Source Type: blogs
Patients as teachers
The word doctor is derived from the word docere, which means “ to teach “. This means that every doctor needs to be a teacher – he needs to teach his patients about their medical problems and their treatment options . Just as it is important for doctors to teach patients, I think it's equally important for patients to teach as well. Patients can be teachers for themselves; for other patients ; and for the doctors as well ! Let’s look at this one by one.
Patients need to be self-learners. Teaching and learning is never a one way communication where the teacher pours information into an empty vessel . The patient ne...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 2, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Medicine Health In vitro fertilisation patient Conditions and Diseases Physician Source Type: blogs
The one blood test that every young woman should do
Many people go in for annual physical checkups routinely . Doctors do a panel of blood tests , in order to judge how healthy they are . One of the tests which is routinely performed is a cholesterol level , in order to check for the risk of heart disease . In my opinion, this is quite a pointless test for young women, because the risk of their having heart disease is very low in the first place. This is why the chances of finding an abnormality are very slim. However, in spite of this , the test is routinely performed every year for all young women going for an annual medical checkup.
One size does not fit all ; and...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - January 1, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Heart disease In vitro fertilisation AMH Pregnancy Ovarian reserve Blood test Infertility Anti-Müllerian hormone Source Type: blogs
A letter to my embryos, with love !
This is an excerpt from our forthcoming, book, The Expert Patient's Guide to IVF. This being authored by our expert patient, Manju and me.
Dear Blasties, (I wish I could call you children!) How are you both? Hope you are feeling fine inside my uterus! Is it warm and comfortable enough? Does my activity disturb you in anyway? I know that the bedding I have provided you is not so great. Is it difficult to snuggle in because of that? Have you apposed to the endometrium, had a successful cross-talk and started to invade? Did the endometrium welcome you with appropriate adhesion molecules , cytokines, growth fact...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - December 31, 2012 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Prayer In vitro fertilisation Uterus Pregnancy Manju Embryo Dr.Malpani God Source Type: blogs
