Top 5 Medical diagnosis to start thinking about surrogacy
Surrogacy is increasingly becoming an option for starting a family for people who are unable to conceive a child themselves. Surrogacy is when a woman carries a baby for someone who is unable to conceive or carry a child themselves. Couples or individuals who cannot have a child themselves are considering surrogacy as a way to become a parent.
Top 5 reasons why IP(s) turn to surrogacy. These include:
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recurrent miscarriage
Miscarriages are common, occurring in 15-20% of all pregnancies, usually in the first trimester (up to 13 weeks). There are many causes of miscarriage, but they are usually divided into two groups: early and late.
Recurrent early miscarriages (within the first trimester) are most commonly due to genetic or chromosomal problems of the embryo, with 50-80% of spontaneous losses having abnormal chromosomal numbers. Structural problems of the uterus can also play a role in early miscarriage.
Recurrent late miscarriage can be the result of uterine abnormalities, autoimmune problems, an incompetent cervix, or premature labor.
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Repeated failure of IVF treatment
Repeated implantation failure (RIF) is determined when embryos of good quality fail to implant following several in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment cycles. Implantation failure is related to either maternal factors or embryonic causes. Failure of implantation due to embryonic causes is associated with either genetic abnormalities or other factors intrinsic to the embryo that impair its ability to develop in utero, to hatch, and to the implant. If its embryonic causes, in this case, is recommended to use a donor for the next IVF cycles.
Maternal factors include uterine anatomic abnormalities, thrombophilia, non-receptive endometrium, and immunological factors. When it’s considered maternal, we are suggesting using a surrogate mother for embryo transfer to achieve success.
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Premature menopause, often as a result of cancer treatment
The diagnosis of cancer at a young age, when individuals may have not yet started their families, poses unique challenges because treatments for cancer may induce ovarian or testicular failure by damaging ovarian follicles in females and spermatogonia in the testis in male.
At birth, the ovaries contain approximately 1 million primordial follicles. With aging, this supply of oocytes naturally diminishes (atresia) until there are <1000 oocytes remaining at menopause. However, chemotherapy or whole body/ pelvic radiotherapy damages ovaries, impairing follicular maturation or increasing the rate of oocyte loss with fewer remaining primordial follicles. This results in the development of amenorrhoea which may be temporary (with a variable degree of recovery over the succeeding years but progressing to POI) or permanent (premature/early menopause). Return of menses does not necessarily mean a return of fertility.
The ability to start a family and have children is a key quality of life issue. Because of infertility following cancer treatment has a recognized negative impact on the quality of survival. Options to preserve fertility potential are currently available, and fertility preservation procedure is done before a medical treatment that may cause infertility, such as radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
We highly recommend to future parents, to preserve fertility (create embryos/ Freeze the oocytes/Sperm) before starting the chemotherapy.
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A hysterectomy or an absent or abnormal uterus
The most common reasons for having a hysterectomy include heavy periods – which can be caused by fibroids. pelvic pain – which may be caused by endometriosis, unsuccessfully treated pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), adenomyosis, or fibroids. prolapse of the uterus. With this diagnosis, IVF treatment is recommended, we will create embryos using your oocytes and your partner semen, and then we will transfer embryos into the uterus of the gestational surrogate mother.
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A serious risk to health that may result from pregnancy
If you already have a chronic condition or illness, talk to your doctor about how to minimize any complications before you get pregnant. If you’re already pregnant, your doctor may need to monitor your pregnancy.
The factors that may increase your risk for complications include:
- being pregnant at age 35 or older
- being pregnant at a young age
- having an eating disorder like anorexia
- having a history of pregnancy loss or preterm birth
- carrying multiples, such as twins or triplets
Others develop health problems during pregnancy. The two major pregnancy and delivery complications women face are pre-eclampsia (a condition marked by high blood pressure, swelling, and signs of damage to the kidney or liver), and gestational diabetes — a form of the illness that develops during pregnancy.
If any of the following conditions apply to you, it is probably time to make an appointment with a fertility specialist to discuss all your possible options.
