Couples for whom IVF is the only hope of getting offspring are ready for many sacrifices. What is this method of infertility treatment and what do specialists think about the changes proposed by politicians?
When Louise Brown was born, crowds of journalists and reporters appeared outside the Oldham Maternity Hospital in England. Some of them pretended to be staff, someone even announced a false bomb alarm just to get to the hospital. The birth of Louise was filmed, the newborn weighing 2600 g wanted to see the whole world. Why? Louise was the first child in the world to be conceived using thein vitromethod. Today, the "test tube girl" is over 30 years old and is a mother of a two-year-old boy herself. The circumstances of her conception were a revolution in medicine, and although since then, thanks to the IVF method, millions of he althy children have been born, artificial insemination has not become commonplace. For some, it is an unacceptable interference with nature, others consider it an admirable manifestation of progress. For couples unsuccessfully trying to get a child, it can be the last hope of creating a complete family.
In vitro - the hope of the childless
It is estimated that infertility may affect even every fifth couple, and there are many indications that the problem is growing. According to doctors,infertilitycan be said when a couple has regular unprotected intercourse for at least a year and during this time the woman does not becomepregnant . Then it is time to research - both women and men. Sometimes, in order to achieve success, it is enough to pharmacologically regulate the hormonal balance of the future mother or restore the patency of the fallopian tubes, other times insemination (i.e. transferring the most viable sperm directly to the uterus) turns out to be effective. It happens that future parents are helped by changing their lifestyle to a less stressful one. Sometimes, however, they are years old and all the methods used fail - then in-vitro fertilization remains the last hope.
What is IVF?
In vitro fertilization combines a sperm with an egg outside the body of a woman. Earlier, the expectant mother is subjected to intense hormonal stimulation so that during one cycle her body is able to produce as many as possible - a few or a dozen - eggs. Doctorshe takes them by puncturing the vaginal canopy with a long needle (the procedure is performed under local anesthesia). The future father must deliver his semen in good time. And so the miracle of conception is transferred to the laboratory, to a test tube (in vitro means in Latin: in glass), and in fact to special dishes. Because it is under the cover of glass plates that, after several hours, the sperm and egg fuse - this is how an embryo is formed. After 2-5 days after fertilization, the awaited moment comes: the doctor uses a special catheter to insert the embryo (or embryos) into the woman's body. This is where the intervention of medicine ends. Nature decides the fate of the embryo. Two weeks of tension are ahead. After they expire, tests are performed to show whether the embryo has established itself in the uterus. Experts estimate that the first and second time the chances of success are similar and amount to 45-60%, later - they significantly decrease. After subsequent attempts - sometimes as early as the third, sometimes the fourth or the sixth - doctors advise against further attempts, because research shows that they will be doomed.
In vitro fertilization cannot be treated as a simple alternative to natural conception. Doctors do not hide that the intensive hormone therapy of the future mother, which is necessary in this case, is not indifferent to her body. The entire treatment is physically and mentally stressful.
IVF is an expense
The method is also not cheap. The mere preparation of a woman for fertilization by administering appropriate hormones costs about PLN 4,000. The procedures for the collection of ova - laboratory, culture and delivery of the embryo to the uterus - cost an average of PLN 4-8,000. And yet the procedure does not guarantee pregnancy and many couples continue treatment, deciding to make a second and subsequent attempts. They are not discouraged by either the risks or the high cost of the procedure. Many people choose to take out loans to continue their treatment.
In vitro - myths debunked
Many myths have arisen around IVF. For example, the test-tube child develops worse than its peers conceived by a natural method. Polish anthropologists have recently de alt with the problem, who compared the birth parameters and the subsequent development of children born thanks to IVF, and announced that such suspicions had no basis whatsoever. However, it is true that multiple pregnancies, i.e. high-risk pregnancies, are relatively common after the procedure. It has also been proven that there is a greater risk of premature delivery or low birth weight. However, the psychomotor development of artificially conceived children does not differ from the norm. It also turns out that test-tube babies tend to be more closely related to their parents.Scientists explain this with the fact that they are the most anticipated babies in the world …
According to an expertdr Sławomir Sobkiewicz, Salve clinic in ŁódźNothing will discourage couples
Many couples treat the successful in vitro fertilization almost like a miracle. But you have to remember that we are not miracle workers, we do not create life, but the most favorable conditions for it to be created. People have been struggling with infertility for years. First, hormone therapy helped them, then insemination, and more than 30 years ago, IVF appeared. In my opinion, this is the crowning achievement of medical achievements in the treatment of infertility. I am concerned about the confusion that has been accompanying the IVF method in our country for some time. I'm afraid we may have a law like in Italy that prohibits the freezing of embryos. Therefore, women decide to accept several embryos at once, even three. That is why in Italy there are a lot of multiple pregnancies, and thus - premature births of children with low birth weight. Many of these children die, others require expensive treatment. On the other hand, Belgium applied a good solution. There, the procedure is reimbursed, but only on the condition that only one embryo is implanted. The rest can be frozen. The effect is that women do not undergo intensive hormone treatment to produce as many eggs as possible in one cycle. I am afraid that if our IVF law is very restrictive, patients will be exposed to additional costs and problems. Because I am convinced that they will not be discouraged from taking IVF. The desire to have a child cannot be suppressed. Simply put, if they cannot perform the procedure in Poland, they will go abroad for IVF.
In vitro - Polish controversies
In Poland, the first in vitro fertilization was performed almost 22 years ago in a clinic in Białystok. It is known that the result of this procedure was a girl. However, her birth was not accompanied by publicity similar to that with which Louise Brown was born. The parents decided that they preferred to remain anonymous. Although there are more and more Polish "test-tube children" (it is estimated that 10-20 thousand procedures are performed in our country every year) and many couples owe he althy offspring and a happy family to this method, IVF does not cease to arouse controversy. Public debate on this has been going on for months. The matter is to be regulated by the so-called Bioethics Act.
At one point it was even said that the procedure should be free (i.e. reimbursed by the National He alth Fund), but on condition that the couple applying for it are married and meet strict medical criteria (e.g. . for the he alth of future parents and their parentsage). In the last draft of the law, there is no longer any mention of free procedures, but there is a ban on the destruction and freezing of human embryos. The method would be available only to married couples, the woman could not be more than 40 years old, and the doctor could create no more than two embryos at a time (unless the woman wishes to implant more embryos at the same time). Such solutions aroused a lot of emotions. If only because prohibiting the freezing of embryos would mean - in the event of failure of the first attempt - that the woman must undergo hormonal stimulation again. The approval of the changes in this form would also mean that in Poland, couples living in informal relationships would not have a chance to benefit from IVF. There are, however, voices among politicians in favor of liberalizing the project.