For women with non-reparable blocked tubes, it’s time to move to IVF

When is it time to move to IVF? Most singles and couples start with IUI or ovulation induction. Our San Antonio and Austin fertility specialists usually don’t recommend IVF as a first-line treatment. However, for a small percentage of our patients, it really is the best option.

• Advanced maternal age
• Blocked fallopian tubes
• A history of failed IVF cycles
• Severe male infertility

For everyone else, transitioning to IVF can make statistical sense after 3-6 IUI cycles. Also referred to as artificial insemination, IUI has a 10-20 percent success rate per cycle, so past a certain number of unsuccessful cycles the odds are not in your favor. A fertility specialist will factor in age, causes of infertility and sperm health before making a recommendation on when to move on to IVF.

What you should know about IVF in 2015

New approaches to a time-tested standard in care have improved upon the process and IVF outcomes. You may not know, for instance:

• A new method that breaks the IVF process into two menstrual cycles, called freeze-all IVF, allows the uterus to return to a more natural state before embryo transfer.
• Preimplantation Genetic Screening allows the physicians to select the best embryo to transfer with much higher implantation rates. By transferring an embryo that is known to have normal chromosomes the miscarriage rate is also much lower.
• Single embryo transfer eliminates the risk of multiple births.

TFC stands by you as you decide when to move on to IVF, or try other options such as donor egg or adoption. One of the key components of our fertility education program is IVF orientation, held every month at TFC San Antonio and TFC Austin.

Join us for IVF Orientation

Texas Fertility Center hosts an IVF orientation on Wednesday, Mar. 10 at 6:30 pm at North Austin Medical Center. If you would like to attend this complimentary session, contact us here to reserve a seat. IVF lab professionals join one of our board-certified reproductive endocrinologists. Together, they will clarify the IVF process, from the first visit to embryo transfer.

Should you decide that the time is right to move on to IVF, we feel confident that your best days are ahead. TFC has a long history of helping create families in Austin, Round Rock, San Antonio and beyond.