Infertility Treatments for Women

Ovulation medications help regulate the timing of your ovulation and stimulate the development and release of mature eggs. They can also help correct hormonal problems that can affect the lining of your uterus as it prepares to receive a fertilized egg.

Ovulation medications can cause more than one egg to be released. This could increase your chances of having twins or other multiples.

Some conditions, such as cervical mucus issues, could mean that sperm from your partner have trouble reaching your eggs for fertilization. In intrauterine insemination (IUI), we place specially washed and prepared sperm from your partner directly into your uterus through a small, flexible tube called a catheter. This can increase your chances of fertilization and conception.

We often use IUI in combination with ovulation medications.

Your doctor might recommend surgery to treat a condition that is causing your infertility, such as a fallopian tube blockage or endometriosis.

We can perform many of the surgical procedures needed to diagnose and treat causes of infertility through laparoscopy, a minimally invasive technique.

Some couples need more extensive treatment for their infertility issues. In most types of ART, we bring your partner’s sperm and your egg together in the laboratory. Then we return the fertilized egg to your uterus, where it can implant and develop.

ART procedures include:

• In vitro fertilization (IVF), in which we extract your eggs, fertilize them in the laboratory with your partner’s sperm, and transfer the resulting embryo(s) into your uterus for implantation and development. IVF is the most common form of ART, and it’s often the treatment of choice for women with blocked, severely damaged, or absent fallopian tubes. We also use IVF for infertility caused by endometriosis.
• Egg cryopreservation, in which we freeze your eggs for transfer at a later date.
• Donor eggs, which involves transferring an embryo formed from the egg of the donor to you if you’re unable to conceive with your own eggs. The donor relinquishes all parental rights to any children who result from this procedure.
• Embryo cryopreservation, in which we freeze fertilized eggs that develop into embryos for transfer at a later date. We often use this procedure when an IVF cycle produces more embryos than we can transfer into your uterus at one time. If you don’t become pregnant with the initial transfer, we can use the remaining embryos in a future cycle.