There can be many reasons for not being able to conceive, but often, it’s an interplay of various factors. We conduct a patient interview in our fertility clinics to tailor your treatment uniquely to you.
If there is indeed a fertility disorder present in one or both partners, modern reproductive medicine offers various therapeutic options. Our experienced team will recommend the best treatment for your individual situation and accompany you sensitively during the course of treatment.
In IVF, mature eggs are retrieved from the woman following hormonal stimulation and brought together with about 50,000 processed sperm from the partner. Fertilisation of the eggs takes place outside the body, but of its own accord. If fertilisation is successful, then usually an embryo (two in some cases) is transferred to the uterus after 2–5 days. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a form of so-called assisted fertilisation.
If it is proving impossible to get pregnant in the conventional way, the doctor can perform so-called insemination (semen transfer). The male sperm is introduced into the uterus of the woman with the help of a simple medical procedure.
If the chances of success of IVF are low because the number of suitable sperm is too low, the eggs obtained following hormonal stimulation can be fertilised in the laboratory by means of microinjection using one sperm cell each. The resulting embryos are transferred to the uterus, just like in IVF.
If there are no fertile sperm in the man's ejaculate, sperm may be able to be harvested from the testicular tissue (TESE) by means of a biopsy and used for fertility treatment by ICSI.
Hormonal disorders can occur in both men and women, but hormone therapy is usually offered to women. The goal is to promote egg maturation and induce ovulation. This hormonal treatment can increase the likelihood of successful fertilisation and is performed in our clinics.
There are a number of medications available to support/enable fertility treatment, such as those that promote follicular production and maturation of the follicle, to trigger ovulation, in order, for example, to create the best possible conditions for insemination. For example, a hormone commonly used in the first stage of fertility treatment is clomiphene. Clomiphene is usually taken in the form of tablets. However, Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) or Human Menopausal Gonadotropin (hMG) can also be taken to promote maturation of the egg.
Thinking ahead gives more family planning options. The freezing of eggs increases a woman's chances of having children later in life and in cases where she suffers cancer. The cryopreservation of sperm has already been practised successfully for over 50 years. The fragile egg, however, has delicate inner structures and a cytoskeleton that is very vulnerable to the formation of ice crystals. Research has now managed to open another door in reproductive medicine by successfully freezing and thawing eggs.
The embryo represents a big challenge for the female immune system. Since both maternal and paternal parts are combined in the embryo, the immune system should recognize this “intruder” as being foreign and reject it. Often the embryos are recognized as being foreign by killer cells that are found in large numbers in the uterus and are subsequently fought against. By taking a sample of tissue from the uterus in the second half of the menstrual cycle, one can establish the number of natural killer cells.
Egg cell donation is legal in Austria as of 2015 and is offered in the fertility clinics of TFP! The new reproductive medicine act states that the recipient of the donor egg cell may not be older than 45 years old at the start of treatment. You can of course also bring your own donor with you (your sister, niece, friend, …). Please note that the donor must be between 18 and 30 years old, must be completely healthy, and must undergo a critical social anamnesis by the doctors of TFP fertility clinics.
Fertility treatment with donor sperm can help not only heterosexual couples with fertility problems to have a child, but also same-sex partners. With a pool of 150 approved donors, TFP Sperm Bank GmbH offers the right profile for your planned child.
During in vitro fertilisation (IVF), fertilisation of the egg and the first days of maturation take place outside the woman's body. With the help of small incubators, we imitate the environment in which eggs develop during a usual pregnancy.
The Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PID) enables diagnosis of deformities in the earliest embryonic development stage (age of the embryo: 3 days). The chances of pregnancy and the birth of a healthy child are increased using PID or PGD methods. At the same time, the risk of miscarriage or the necessity of abortion due to genetic reasons are reduced.
Polar Body Diagnostics is an investigation into the genetic material of the female egg cells. In particular this helps women who suffer from recurrent miscarriages very early on in the pregnancy for no definite reason. Similar to the Pre-implantation Diagnostics (PID), the Polar Body Diagnostics can identify (with high probability) problems with chromosomes and highlight specific hereditary diseases. This way the "best quality" eggs are detected and embryos with higher nidation chances are generated from these eggs.
Psychological factors may negatively influence the possibility of having a successful pregnancy and the birth of a longed-for child. That is why psychological support is so important during fertility treatment. It helps to detect and reduce detrimental stress factors.
In some cases endometriosis, fibroids (myomas), blocked fallopian tubes or abnormalities of the uterine cavity lead to infertility. Surgical treatment can improve the chances of getting pregnant. Usually minimal invasive laparoscopic tecniques like pelviscopy but also hysteroscopy are used. The decision for surgical treatment as an option is taken during the initial consultation.
New studies in the reproductive medicine have shown that, when a “mild endometrium irritation” occurs in a cycle prior to an IVF (e.g. in the course of a hysteroscopy which is sometimes carried out before an IVF in order to determine the uterine cavity), the chances of nidation in the two following cycles are increased.
The implantation of the embryo into the uterus of the mother is a very complex process. In order to avoid rejection of the embryo, an immune tolerance against the embryo must develop. The seminal plasma (ejaculate without sperm), which is mainly made up of the secretion from the seminal vesicale and 25% secretion from the prostate gland, appears to have an active role to play in this process.
Many women who are planning to undergo fertility treatment worry about the high hormone doses and the related high costs. The ultra-light stimulation (mini IVF) is a new method of stimulation that has been developed in order to avoid many problems before they arise. Professor Kato in Tokyo was the first to develop the method of ultra-light stimulation. It was later improved by Dr John Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Clinic in New York.
The eggs - as well as the embryo - are surrounded and protected by a shell called the zona pellucida. Shortly before the embryo nests in the womb, this shell opens with the help of special enzymes and with the pressure of the embryo's growth - and the embryo "hatches".
Women of childbearing age have the possibility of freezing their own unfertilised eggs to increase the chances of pregnancy in later years. Originally developed for cancer patients, many younger women make use of this technology today to postpone their family planning.
Sample confusion in the IVF laboratory has serious consequences for patients and must be avoided at all costs. Therefore, the labelling of the culture dishes and tubes is done with the utmost care with the patient name and birthday, a unique patient ID, a colour code or a combination of these elements.