I need ART now what? Flashcards
Who needs to access ART
- Medically infertile individuals
- Socially infertile individuals
What is the process for a medically infertile individual to access ART and are they covered by medicare?
Medically infertile: 12 months of regular unprotected sex and no pregnancy (if over 36 only 6 months)
need to see GP and get a referral to a fertility specialists
treatment costs are reimbursed by medicare
What is the process for a socially infertile individual to access ART and are they covered by medicare?
socially infertile: ART required to provide gametes, uterus, genetic testing etc
- single women/men
- same sex couples
- transgender couples
See a GP for a specialists referral
No access to medicare need to pay full out of pocket cost
What are the factors that patients will consider when choosing a fertility clinic?
location
recommendations
specialist preference (male, female etc)
specialist expertise (endo, PCOS etc)
continued care (specialist still practices OB)
Cost (private or bulk billing)
Online presence
A spike in which hormone causes ovulation?
LH
What hormone spikes after ovulation due to the presence of corpus luteum?
progesterone
What are the steps involved in stimulation of follicles to prepare the oocytes?
- stimulate follicles
- prevent LH surge (spontaneous ovulation)
- Trigger
How is the hormonal pathways involved in ovulation manipulated to stimulate follicle growth?
Injectable FSH is given to stimulate follicle growth
(e.g. Gonal-F)
How is an LH surge prevented during follicle stimulation and why do we need to avoid this?
LH surge is prevented through two different medications:
- GnRH antagonist (binds and blocks GnRH receptor so GnRH cannot bind = no production of LH and FSH)
- GnRH agonist (activates GnRH receptor which at first causes a surge of LH but then receptors are oversaturated leading to down regulation)
Avoiding spontaneous ovulation allows for control of follicular growth so we can extract the oocytes at the right time and not lose them to the reproductive tract (we cannot collect once in tract)
Once the patients follicles are ready for pick up how do we trigger the LH surge?
giving LH injections are too expensive so we use:
- hCG (same active subunit as LH so mimics the LH surge)
- GnRH agonist (causes an increase in the production of FSH and LH causing a LH surge)
Post oocyte pick up progesterone is given to the patient. Why is this given?
As oocytes are aspirated from the follicle no corpus luteum forms = no progesterone
For the patient to have an embryo transfer the endometrium needs to be receptive which is usually progesterones role so instead progesterone medication is given.
What are the two types of cycles for stimulation and which is the most common?
- antagonist cycle (most common)
- agonist cycle
What is an antagonist cycle?
- Day 3 of menstruation start FSH
- Day 5 GnRH antagonist is taken to block LH production
- Day 12 trigger taken
- can be hCG or GnRH - 36 hours after trigger OPU
- After OPU progesterone treatment begins
Explain the steps in the agonist cycle
- GnRH agonist begins well before day 1 of menstrual cycle (this will cause an LH surge then down regulate the production of LH and FSH due to over saturation of receptors)
- FSH begins day 3 of cycle
- Day 12: trigger taken (only hCG can be taken in this cycle as an agonist has already been taken)
- 36 hours after trigger OPU
- Progesterone begins after OPU
Why are antagonist cycles more commonly used?
- patient friendly
- less injections
- shortened stimulation time (can get more round per year if required) - Effective
- probability of live birth does not differ between the two cycle options - Safe
- option of GnRH agonist trigger reduced OHSS risk