How to get maximum IVF outcome?

The fact that reproductive function decreases with age is not a “horror story” and just empty words.

Every year, medical scientists, reproductologists, geneticists are discussing fertility awareness louder and trying to inform an increasingly wider audience. Numerous studies in the field of reproductive health prove that pregnancy should be planned in the prime reproductive age when you have every chance of getting healthy offspring – without the help of IVF.

If your destiny has prepared for you a fertility journey – don’t panic, approach the process as correctly as possible and start by examining yourself and making right diagnosis.

Here are some tips

You need to turn to experienced IVF specialists and only to the clinics that can offer in-depth examination including genetic testing and personalized IVF treatment methods worked out specifically for you.

How to navigate in IVF treatment methods?

When choosing an IVF technique, you should remember: what is good for a younger age (women under 35), may not work for an older age, when the ovarian reserve decreases and a combined approach is required. That is why it is so important to develop an individual IVF treatment plan with your doctor. Here are some options to help.

1. If you are under 35 years old: IUI / IVF / ICSI

This is the best time – you are in the prime reproductive age. If for various reasons you cannot become pregnant on your own, it is recommended to use the methods of IUI or IVF or ICSI - depending on your and your partner’s tests results.

2. If your age is from 36 to 45 years: IVF / ICSI + PGT-A

For a woman, this is the time of “middle reproductive age”, when the quality of her eggs gradually decreases. Carrying out IVF treatment after 35 years, it is very important to choose genetically healthy embryos for the transfer, which can give healthy pregnancy and lead to the birth of a healthy baby. That’s why it is necessary to use embryo selection in IVF cycle and subsequent genetic testing of embryos (PGT-A).

3. If your age is from 46 to 50 years: Egg Donation / Tandem treatment / Donor program + PGT-A / PRP therapy

This age is called “advanced maternal age”. The female body produces very few cells, and as a rule, of poor quality. For many women at this age, it is almost impossible to give birth to their own offspring, even using IVF. Nevertheless, reproductive medicine does not stand still - donor programs using donor egg cells come to the rescue. Еhere is also the opportunity to try tandem treatment - use both your own and donor cells in the donor IVF cycle. Moreover, the correlation between own and donor cells may be different depending on the reproductive health of the woman during this period. If pregnancy does not occur for unknown reasons even using Donor IVF cycle, Egg Donation + PGT-A program can help with embryo testing for genetic health.

In addition, a new, advanced treatment method for the women of advanced maternal age has appeared at iVF Riga Clinic - endometrium and ovaries restoration with the help of PRP-therapy. PRP-therapy helps for ovarian rejuvenation and makes it possible to restart menstrual cycle, which has already been confirmed in the practice of our clinic by several successful pregnancies.

If you have not met your soul mate yet or - who knows? - do not plan to connect your life with the opposite sex – you still have the chance to know the joys of motherhood. In this case, IVF treatment using donor sperm is possible. Clinic iVF Riga has the first official Bank of Genetic Material in the Baltic States and offers frozen donor sperm from local, thoroughly examined donors for use. As an option, we can also offer to select sperm from the European Sperm Bank.

Take home message

We highly recommend not postponing the decision of such an important thing as pregnancy planning. Do not be afraid to start this path and do not lose heart - the modern possibilities of medicine and IVF in particular allow you to find the best approach for any, even the most difficult case!

“There are no hopeless situations - you only need to believe and act!” – Dr. Violeta Fodina, head of the iVF Riga clinic.