Research Center of Hyosung Hospital, talked about sterility treatment. ◆ Both men and women have a role in infertility In 1978, pregnancy and delivery through a IVF(in vitro fertilization) succeeded for the first time in the world, and since then, medical advances including assisted reproductive technology gives hope to infertile couples. Im said, “Sterility is the condition that you can not conceive, however, it’s just difficult to have a baby for most of patients who visit our clinic.” Then what are some of the causes of it? “In spite of having a normal sex life, the test is required in these cases: a wife not able to have a baby after a year of trying, a woman over 35 years old, or one having a medical history with pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, ovary surgery, habitual abortion, or menstrual irregularity. Also, there’s the matter of a husband having a problem with sperm.” she said. In the past, people thought that a woman is blamed for sterility but actually, it’s now known that men and women alike each hold about
a 40% ratio to the cause. On this account, her opinion is that they both need to try to overcome it. She said, “For women, most cases are ovulatory disorder such as menstrual irregularity and oligomenorrhea, and functional disorder like tubal blockage. For men, they are varicocele and have spermiduct blockage or a problem with sperm ” ◆ 70~80% of cases cured Usually 20~30% of infertile couples who get treatment still cannot get pregnant, which means the rest of the couples do. Sterility is not an incurable disease so it’s possible to overcome. Before getting infertility treatment, you have to get tests and know your condition in detail. Ultrasound is a basic test for women. And they will get hormone examination, hysterosalpingogram, and an endometrial biopsy to evaluate ovarian functions. Then the next step is getting treatment and procedure along with their next menstural cycle. It could take more than one or two months to finish all kinds of tests because they’re not done at once but proceeded along with one’s menstural cycle. Men will have a semen -continued on p42-
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