Q: What is surrogacy?

Surrogacy is a fertility treatment that carries a woman and gives another couple a pregnancy. This woman, the surrogate mother, may be the genetic mother of the child (as in the case of traditional surrogacy) or may be genetically unrelated to the child (called pregnancy). As part of the surrogacy agreement, she renounces all her parental rights and agrees to give the baby immediately after delivery to the intended parents. Read More

Q: What is the difference between traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy?

In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate's own eggs are fertilized using artificial insemination, making her the baby's biological mother. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate becomes pregnant through in vitro fertilization and has no biological connection with the baby. Both forms of surrogacy have many advantages, disadvantages and implications to consider for intended parents.

Q: How many times can a couple try IVF treatment?

There's no limit to it. In Israel, where Dr. Jayesh Patel has got training, people continue their efforts even for 30 IVF cycles. In Gujarat, the highest record of number of IVF attempts to get successful pregnancy is 22. With every failure, the success rate of subsequent cycle decreases to some extent but cumulative success rate improves with more number of cycles. In first 3 cycles, success rate remains usually unchanged i.e. nearly 60-70% - for each cycle, if all factors are favorable. So cumulative success rate of 3 cycles will be up to >80 to 90%. Simplifying it – if 100 patients undergo IVF treatment, 60 will get pregnancy in first attempt, 20-25 will get pregnancy in third attempt and about 8-10 will be lucky in third attempt. So after 3 attempts only 10-12% will need additional efforts.

Q: Does age influence the chance of pregnancy?

Women's age is the most significant variable affecting the IVF process.

For women below 35, the chance of pregnancy is greater.

After the age of 35, the ovarian reserve (number of good quality eggs) of the woman decreases rapidly. So doctors check your ovarian reserve by sonography and by AMH test. Not only the numbers, but egg quality also decreases after age of 35. So pregnancy should be planned before 35. If AMH test is below 0.5, usually egg donation is advised. If AMH test is between 0.5 to 1.1, treatment to improve AMH may be needed followed by IVF. Even multiple cycles of ovarian stimulation and ovum pick up may be needed to get good number of quality oocytes. If AMH is >1.1 ART with self-eggs will give good results