A common cause of female infertility is due to blockage and scarring of the fallopian tube. This condition prevents the egg from traveling to the fallopian tube and onward to be implanted in the uterus. Blockage of the tube increases the chance of ectopic pregnancy, where the fertilized egg settles in the fallopian tube rather than the uterus.
Fallopian tube block can be caused by untreated pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), endometriosis and sexually transmitted diseases. Sometimes it can be caused by scar tissue that forms after pelvic surgery. Other potential causes of blocked fallopian tubes include a previous history of uterine infection caused by an abortion or miscarriage, a history of abdominal surgery or a ruptured appendix.
The common tests to diagnose infertility due to fallopian tube damage include
• A hysterosalpingogram (HSG) which is a medical procedure where radio opaque dye is injected through the cervix into the uterus and fallopian tubes. A special X-ray machine then scans the pelvic region to diagnose fibroid tumors, scar tissue, an unusually shaped uterus or blockages in the fallopian tubes.
• Laparoscopic surgery is sometimes performed in order to diagnose tubal factor infertility. This involves making a small incision in the abdomen. A tiny camera is then inserted into this incision, allowing the surgeon to view the fallopian tubes.
Treating Tubal Factor Infertility
Tubal factor infertility can be treated through IVF or fallopian tube surgery.
Invitro Fertilization (IVF)
IVF is recommended for women suffering from tubal factor infertility. IVF involves fertilizing an egg outside the fallopian tubes and then implanting the embryo inside the uterus. Chances of pregnancy through this process are quite high.
Fallopian Tube Surgery
Surgery to remove scar tissue, adhesions and fallopian tube blockage is another option although subsequent pregnancy rates do vary.
A reproductive endocrinologist (fertility specialist) is best suited to take the decision about which of these therapies are to be opted based on several factors, the most significant factor being the degree of tubal damage, the age of the female, and whether other infertility factors (male or female) are present.
For women with significant damage to the ends (fimbria) of their tubes, one IVF attempt offers a better chance of a viable pregnancy than surgery ever will and at a lower overall cost.
East Bay fertility Center Dublin California, specializes in the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of infertility providing a complete mind-body experience for fertility couples. East Bay’s experienced medical staff is headed by Dr. Ellen U. Snowden, Medical Director and physician. Dr Snowden is Board Certified in Obstetric, Gynecology, and Reproductive Endocrinology with advanced Fellowship training in the treatment of infertility, recurrent miscarriages and hormonal disorders in women. East Bay Fertility Center performs tests to check the extent of fallopian tube blockage or damage and recommends tubal surgery if necessary. Call 925.828.9235 for a free initial consultation.
Showing posts with label fertility problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fertility problems. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Smoking Vs Infertility
Infertility arises because of many reasons such as problems in the ovaries and uterus and fluctuations in hormone levels which reduce the chances of conceiving. In addition there are external factors that could contribute to infertility. Smoking is one of them.
The link between Smoking and Infertility
Latest studies show that a considerable amount of infertility cases are the after effect of smoking. Smoking can cause severe side effects both in men and women. Women smokers have higher risk of affecting their reproductive ability and further increasing the chances of cancer in their offspring because of alterations in the genes and chromosomes.
Women who have tried to get pregnant with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and those who have been smokers in the past produce fewer eggs with IVF than non smokers. In addition, smokers also experience reduced capacity of fertilization of the eggs and increased chances of miscarriages with IVF. The reason might be nicotine, found in cigarettes, which have adverse effects on the follicles that are necessary for the induction of IVF.
Smoking during Pregnancy
The pregnancy rates of women smokers are greatly affected by nicotine. Moreover, smoking negatively influences not just the mother, but the baby as well. Even before delivery, smoking can harm a fetus exposed to nicotine while in the womb causing low birth weight, poor lung function and several other problems. The nicotine in cigarettes obstructs the flow of oxygen needed for healthy growth to the baby's blood. Needless to say the chances of a healthy pregnancy can be improved by keeping the body smoke free.
Effects of Smoking on Female and Male Fertility
Some of the negative consequences of smoking on the female reproduction ability include:
Significant consequences of smoking contributing to male infertility include:
Infertility itself can be cured with the help of treatments and medications and IVF success rates are higher in women that have quit smoking. Fertility improves considerably in women who have quit smoking. Couples planning on starting a family and particularly those experiencing problems while conceiving should make a maximum effort towards cessation of smoking..
East Bay Fertility Center, Dublin, California (www.ebfertility.com) offers personalized medical counseling and treatments for infertile couples. The clinic’s experienced medical staff is headed by Dr. Ellen U. Snowden, Medical Director and physician who is Board Certified in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Endocrinology. East Bay Fertility Center provides comprehensive infertility services and motivates infertile patients throughout their course of infertility treatment. East Bay specializes in providing infertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization, insemination, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, egg donation and gestational surrogacy.
Visit our website http://ebfertility.com/ to know more about different treatment options that we provide.
The link between Smoking and Infertility
Latest studies show that a considerable amount of infertility cases are the after effect of smoking. Smoking can cause severe side effects both in men and women. Women smokers have higher risk of affecting their reproductive ability and further increasing the chances of cancer in their offspring because of alterations in the genes and chromosomes.
Women who have tried to get pregnant with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and those who have been smokers in the past produce fewer eggs with IVF than non smokers. In addition, smokers also experience reduced capacity of fertilization of the eggs and increased chances of miscarriages with IVF. The reason might be nicotine, found in cigarettes, which have adverse effects on the follicles that are necessary for the induction of IVF.
Smoking during Pregnancy
The pregnancy rates of women smokers are greatly affected by nicotine. Moreover, smoking negatively influences not just the mother, but the baby as well. Even before delivery, smoking can harm a fetus exposed to nicotine while in the womb causing low birth weight, poor lung function and several other problems. The nicotine in cigarettes obstructs the flow of oxygen needed for healthy growth to the baby's blood. Needless to say the chances of a healthy pregnancy can be improved by keeping the body smoke free.
Effects of Smoking on Female and Male Fertility
Some of the negative consequences of smoking on the female reproduction ability include:
- Damage to the fallopian tubes that produce healthy eggs
- Lower rates of fertilization of the eggs with IVF
- Chances of reaching menopause early by 1 to 4 years
- Increased risk of unprompted abortion and ectopic pregnancy
- Alterations in ovum
- Likelihood of occurrence of cancer in the babies of smoking parents
Significant consequences of smoking contributing to male infertility include:
- Decreased sperm count in men
- lterations in the sperm morphology, sperm strength and quantity of ejaculated semen
- Infertility caused by changes in the series of DNA in sperm cells
Infertility itself can be cured with the help of treatments and medications and IVF success rates are higher in women that have quit smoking. Fertility improves considerably in women who have quit smoking. Couples planning on starting a family and particularly those experiencing problems while conceiving should make a maximum effort towards cessation of smoking..
East Bay Fertility Center, Dublin, California (www.ebfertility.com) offers personalized medical counseling and treatments for infertile couples. The clinic’s experienced medical staff is headed by Dr. Ellen U. Snowden, Medical Director and physician who is Board Certified in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Endocrinology. East Bay Fertility Center provides comprehensive infertility services and motivates infertile patients throughout their course of infertility treatment. East Bay specializes in providing infertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization, insemination, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, egg donation and gestational surrogacy.
Visit our website http://ebfertility.com/ to know more about different treatment options that we provide.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
How Fibroids Can be a Cause of Infertility
One of the commonly occurring medical conditions generally overlooked as a cause of infertility is the presence of uterine fibroids. It is possible for a woman with a fibroid to conceive and carry the baby to term. If left untreated, it is likely that the fibroid will continue to grow. When the woman decides she wants to add to her family, the increased size of the fibroid may be a factor in her inability to conceive.
Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors that develop in and around the uterus. Fibroids are a common occurrence and it is estimated that around 25 percent of women in their childbearing years have signs of fibroids. A woman may have a single fibroid or multiple fibroids which may be located on the exterior or interior uterine surfaces or within the wall of the uterus. Fibroids are generally detected by a pelvic examination or an ultrasound.
The exact cause of fibroids is still unknown but it seems to be related to a gene that controls cell growth. When this gene is not functioning properly, cells grow and divide at an accelerated rate leading to a mass of cells or fibroid. Other causes for development of fibroids are the abnormalities in the blood vessels around the uterus and changes in chemicals in the body that cause tissue to grow.
Fibroids sometimes interfere with fertility and create complications while trying to conceive because of the growths. The symptoms of fibroids include heavy menstrual flow, pelvic pressure and bladder or bowel problems.
How Fibroids can lead to infertility
Fibroids can lead to fertility problems in a number of ways. Though uterine fibroids are considered harmless they sometimes affect fertility by blocking or distorting the fallopian tubes or by affecting the passage of sperm from the cervix to the fallopian tubes. Submucosal fibroids are the type most likely to cause fertility problems or miscarriages because of their location inside the uterine cavity. Sometimes they grow into the uterus, filling it and even growing out of the cervix. They project into the womb cavity and greatly disrupt its shape. These fibroids ultimately act as a foreign body and make the uterine environment hostile for an embryo to implant correctly. It may affect the proper growth and development of the embryo thus increasing the risk of an embryo to miscarry.
Treatment includes medications, which can help shrink the fibroids and surgery to remove the fibroids. There are two types of surgery options for the treatment of fibroids: Myomectomy in which fibroids are removed from the uterus and hysterectomy which involves removal of the uterus.
Myomectomy is the treatment of choice for women who want to have children, because it usually can preserve fertility, enabling her to retain her child-bearing ability. But this treatment is at the expense of increased risk of fibroid recurrence. Hysterectomy is commonly performed when large fibroids are the problem. By removing the uterus during hysterectomy, the possibility of fibroids returning is eliminated.
An entirely new approach to treating fibroids is by uterine artery embolisation (UAE). This involves a radiologist passing a very thin catheter into a blood vessel in the groin and guiding it toward one of the arteries that lead to the fibroid. The small artery is blocked off leading to shrinkage of the fibroid. This procedure, if proven effective, would be a welcome alternative to hysterectomy, which removes the uterus. However, because of newness of this procedure, long-term effects are still not known and it is not generally recommended for women wishing to preserve their fertility.
Doctors are working on less invasive measures and on drugs to treat fibroids. For those who face fertility issues, one of the initial tests that are recommended to be done is to test for fibroids.
East Bay fertility Center Dublin California, (www.ebfertility.com) specializes in the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of infertility, providing a complete mind-body experience for fertility couples. At East Bay Fertility Center, skilled fertility specialists treat fibroids and other obstructions before starting with fertility treatment, including IVF. East Bay’s experienced medical staff is headed by Dr. Ellen U. Snowden, Medical Director and physician. Dr Snowden is Board Certified in Obstetric, Gynecology, and Reproductive Endocrinology with advanced Fellowship training in the treatment of infertility, recurrent miscarriages and hormonal disorders in women.
Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors that develop in and around the uterus. Fibroids are a common occurrence and it is estimated that around 25 percent of women in their childbearing years have signs of fibroids. A woman may have a single fibroid or multiple fibroids which may be located on the exterior or interior uterine surfaces or within the wall of the uterus. Fibroids are generally detected by a pelvic examination or an ultrasound.
The exact cause of fibroids is still unknown but it seems to be related to a gene that controls cell growth. When this gene is not functioning properly, cells grow and divide at an accelerated rate leading to a mass of cells or fibroid. Other causes for development of fibroids are the abnormalities in the blood vessels around the uterus and changes in chemicals in the body that cause tissue to grow.
Fibroids sometimes interfere with fertility and create complications while trying to conceive because of the growths. The symptoms of fibroids include heavy menstrual flow, pelvic pressure and bladder or bowel problems.
How Fibroids can lead to infertility
Fibroids can lead to fertility problems in a number of ways. Though uterine fibroids are considered harmless they sometimes affect fertility by blocking or distorting the fallopian tubes or by affecting the passage of sperm from the cervix to the fallopian tubes. Submucosal fibroids are the type most likely to cause fertility problems or miscarriages because of their location inside the uterine cavity. Sometimes they grow into the uterus, filling it and even growing out of the cervix. They project into the womb cavity and greatly disrupt its shape. These fibroids ultimately act as a foreign body and make the uterine environment hostile for an embryo to implant correctly. It may affect the proper growth and development of the embryo thus increasing the risk of an embryo to miscarry.
Treatment includes medications, which can help shrink the fibroids and surgery to remove the fibroids. There are two types of surgery options for the treatment of fibroids: Myomectomy in which fibroids are removed from the uterus and hysterectomy which involves removal of the uterus.
Myomectomy is the treatment of choice for women who want to have children, because it usually can preserve fertility, enabling her to retain her child-bearing ability. But this treatment is at the expense of increased risk of fibroid recurrence. Hysterectomy is commonly performed when large fibroids are the problem. By removing the uterus during hysterectomy, the possibility of fibroids returning is eliminated.
An entirely new approach to treating fibroids is by uterine artery embolisation (UAE). This involves a radiologist passing a very thin catheter into a blood vessel in the groin and guiding it toward one of the arteries that lead to the fibroid. The small artery is blocked off leading to shrinkage of the fibroid. This procedure, if proven effective, would be a welcome alternative to hysterectomy, which removes the uterus. However, because of newness of this procedure, long-term effects are still not known and it is not generally recommended for women wishing to preserve their fertility.
Doctors are working on less invasive measures and on drugs to treat fibroids. For those who face fertility issues, one of the initial tests that are recommended to be done is to test for fibroids.
East Bay fertility Center Dublin California, (www.ebfertility.com) specializes in the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of infertility, providing a complete mind-body experience for fertility couples. At East Bay Fertility Center, skilled fertility specialists treat fibroids and other obstructions before starting with fertility treatment, including IVF. East Bay’s experienced medical staff is headed by Dr. Ellen U. Snowden, Medical Director and physician. Dr Snowden is Board Certified in Obstetric, Gynecology, and Reproductive Endocrinology with advanced Fellowship training in the treatment of infertility, recurrent miscarriages and hormonal disorders in women.
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