 |
 |
 |
 Concern
 Treatment
Pregnancy
Experiences
Concern
|
 |
Medical, Ethical & Social Trends
Today, there is a wide range of medical help that
can be offered to infertile couples. In the past five to ten years,
there has been an explosion of new information about infertility
and great advances in profertility treatment. These new therapies,
all covered within this site, include advances in hormonal
treatment, a wider acceptance of donor insemination, the
development of intrauterine insemination (IUI) and advances in
microsurgery and laser surgery.
However, the most important advances have been in assisted
reproductive technology (ART). ART includes in vitro fertilisation
(IVF), gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT), zygote
intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection
(ICSI). Progress has also been made in understanding the
psychosocial impact of infertility and in helping couples to manage
their worries and emotions through contact with other infertile
couples, support groups and counselling.
However, society seems ambivalent about
accepting infertility as a legitimate health problem. In
Europe, provision for infertility treatment is often
cash-limited or subject to marked regional variations in
availability and/or accessibility. The use of donor eggs or sperm
and of surrogate mothers have aroused great concern and are still
matters of heated debate and the use of some forms of ART, such as
cryopreservation, has been questioned. Cryopreservation is accepted
in some countries but banned in others. Probably no other medical
procedures have been subjected to such intense religious, moral and
social scrutiny as those of assisted reproduction.
|
|
 |
|
|
Home
About Serono
