Future of fertility treatments

About three decades ago, scientists combined sperms and eggs in a dish successfully to form the first artificially born babies through in vitro fertilisation or most commonly known as test tube babies. At that time the whole concept seemed futuristic. But now it has become very common. Approximately about 5 million babies in the world are conceived through this method. Our world is advancing and so in the next decade it is estimated that fertility treatments will get cheaper, better and will be widely available.

Besides helping infertile couples conceive, these treatments can be used commonly to help extend the fertile years of women or prevent couples from passing serious conditions to their babies. Though there have been some ethical issues related to these fertility treatments, guidelines are being formed to keep them in control. Listed below are some of the ways in which fertility treatments can affect us in the near future.

·         It is said that genetic screening will help women increase their pregnancy rates. In IVF the embryos are properly screened before they are implanted to screen them of any kind of genetic abnormalities. Genetic abnormalities can cause pregnancy failures and even miscarriages. Screening them before implantation will increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.

·         Recently researchers have found a way to freeze eggs in a way which causes minimal damage to them. Thus the number of women wanting to freeze their eggs will increase. Eggs frozen in the new method are quite similar to fresh eggs when it is related to their ability to cause pregnancy.

·         In the future, the fertility treatments will make use of fewer hormones. Artificial hormone stimulation can have many serious side effects. But new techniques are being discovered which will use much less dose of hormones. This method will be cheaper will less side effects and fewer visits to the doctor.