Advantages and disadvantages of IVF

Answer 1

ADVANTAGES

This treatment option gives women with blocked, damaged or missing fallopian tubes (the normal route for the egg to travel from the ovary to the uterus) a chance to have a baby.

DISADVANTAGES

It's expensive

Emotionally straining.

fertility drugs used to stimulate egg production themselves can have severe side effects

Risk of multiple pregnancies and increased risk of miscarriage and other complications. Because the procedure often places more than one embryo in a woman's uterus, there is a higher than usual chance of having twins or triplets. Around one in four couples who have had successful IVF treatment will have twins.

In most cases children conceived by IVF are healthy. However, several long-term follow-up studies have found that IVF children are more likely to have accessed health care services, such as hospitals, for surgery or other medical interventions than children conceived naturally (Bonduelle et al 2005; Kallen et al 2005).

women who have had IVF are at increased risk of ectopic pregnancy, where an embryo implants in a fallopian tube or a woman's abdominal cavity