Putting the safety of moms-to-be first, when it comes to IVF
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is regulated in India by the ART Act 2021 and typically uses a stimulated cycle to increase egg yield. Safety concerns, particularly ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), are central to current practice guidelines. Clinics are adopting protocols such as GnRH antagonist stimulation, GnRH agonist triggering, and a freeze‑all strategy to minimise OHSS risk and improve outcomes.
- ▪IVF involves ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, fertilisation, embryo culture, and transfer, with options to freeze gametes and embryos for later use.
- ▪OHSS, a potentially life‑threatening complication, occurs in an estimated 2‑8% of cycles as moderate cases and about 0.1% as severe cases.
- ▪Risk factors for OHSS include younger age, PCOS, high estradiol levels, and the number of follicles stimulated.
- ▪Adopting a segmentation approach—short GnRH antagonist protocols, GnRH agonist triggers, and freeze‑all embryo transfers—has been shown to reduce OHSS incidence.
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In vitro Fertilisation (IVF), colloquially known as ‘test tube babies’ remains one of the most efficacious methods of fertility treatment; its success, however, depends on many factors – approximately 200 variables. Presently, all interventional fertility treatments such as Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI), IVF, Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) and all the allied procedures such as egg, sperm and embryo freezing and Pre-implantation Genetic Testing (PGT) among others are encompassed as Assistive Reproductive Techniques (ART), regulated in our country by the ART Act, 2021. IVF is expensive.
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