10 fertility treatment options that could help you start a family

It’s something you couldn’t have imagined 10 years ago.

But now you’re at the stage in your life when you’re ready to start a family. You’re living in the city you love. You’ve met your forever person. And the timing just feels right.

In theory, getting pregnant should be an easy process. But that’s not always the case, as more than 15% of couples within reproductive age face challenges with fertility. Thankfully, there are ways that you can achieve reproductive health.

And if you’ve already started trying for a family, there are also fertility treatments that could help you at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM). This Burnaby-based clinic offers expert care and has among highest IVF success rates in the country. It offers a wide range of treatment options in line with each patient’s unique journey.

Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)

For men with mild male factor infertility, intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a common first action fertility treatment. Typically, IUI is performed in women receiving ovarian stimulation with clomiphene citrate or follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Letrozole

In most cases, couples who become candidates for IVF do so when other treatments such as IUI have failed. IVF refers to “fertilization in glass” or the laboratory. It’s a process in which eggs (oocytes) are retrieved from the ovary, fertilized in the laboratory with sperm from the male partner, and cultured into early embryos. A select number of the embryos are then transferred to the uterus for implantation and pregnancy.

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

Men who suffer from male factor infertility can create genetically-related children with ICSI at PCRM. The treatment is performed as part of an IVF cycle, where a single sperm is inserted directly into the egg to allow fertilization.

Donors

In some cases, couples are faced with the fact that either the male partner’s sperm hasn’t got the capacity to fertilize an egg, or the woman’s eggs are unable to produce a viable pregnancy. Luckily, there is still hope in this case. And that’s where donor eggs and donor sperm come in as they make it possible for couples in this situation to still achieve pregnancy.

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and Screening (PGS)

Every parent wishes to have a healthy baby but sadly this can become complicated if there’s an increased risk of an inherited condition or chromosome abnormality. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) provide the possibility of a solution as they help examine an embryo for the problem – even before a pregnancy begins.

Surrogacy

A surrogate is used when a female fertility patient cannot carry a baby, usually because of a damaged or absent uterus or serious health concerns. The most common form of surrogacy is gestational surrogacy. In gestational surrogacy, the couple produces embryos in an IVF cycle that are then transferred to the gestational surrogate’s uterus. PCRM can help you can your surrogate through your pregnancy.

Sperm Retrieval

Men who have previously had a vasectomy will require a vasectomy reversal, or retrieval of sperm and ICSI, to conceive a child. Thankfully there are a number of different types of retrieval options that could work for you at PCRM from percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) to testicular sperm extraction (TESE).

Sperm Cryopreservation

Although sperm cryopreservation may not be something that guys think about regularly, there are a number of reasons why freezing yours could be a great option. Whether you anticipate difficulties in the future, if your job requires you to travel frequently, or if you work in an environment that could potentially affect sperm viability, this could help you to achieve a pregnancy in the future with your partner.

Vitrification

This new process of preserving eggs and embryos could help you achieve a pregnancy. You could have it done during an IVF process when there are extra embryos there, after the diagnosis of cancer, or for other social and personal reasons.

Fertility Preservation

You can attend this program at PCRM to find out the latest information surrounding fertility preservation technologies. This can help offer hope and future fertility for women undergoing potentially sterilizing medical therapies.

PCRM Wellness

To help maximize your chances of success with fertility treatments, physicians at PCRM can help you to lead a healthy lifestyle. This includes taking prenatal vitamins that contain folic acid, maintaining a healthy balanced diet, maintaining a normal body weight, getting a sufficient amount of sleep and physical activity.

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Now more than ever is the right time to start thinking about your fertility. Whether you’re planning to start a family in the coming months or in the next few years, making proactive choices and taking the right steps that work for you could make things a lot easier for you later on. Alternatively, if you’re trying for a family right now and things aren’t moving as fast as you hoped they would, there are ways that the PCRM team could help you.

The fertility clinic aims to educate their patients about how advancements in reproductive health can help them overcome fertility challenges both now and in the future. Their philosophy is to put the patient first, and the right treatment will follow. The PCRM team focuses on these values to create an atmosphere of personalized fertility care with excellent service. So however you choose to build your family, PCRM strives to support you with knowledge, experience, and kindness.

PCRM is also the first and only fertility clinic in BC with a licensed pharmacy for their patients requiring reproductive medication.

To find out how PCRM could help you start your family, request an appointment online. For more information and to get the latest updates check out PCRM, on Twitter and Facebook.