Each year, as many as 15 percent of American couples of childbearing age struggle with infertility when trying to start a family. Though infertility is often considered to be a female problem in the mind of the public, research shows that the underlying causes for the medical condition are split evenly between the sexes.
While some infertility conditions in men can be improved through actions as simple as following a healthy diet and exercise plan, other infertility issues are more difficult to fix. In certain circumstances, a man’s fertility doctor may suggest that he and his partner employ the use of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) to help them conceive a child.
Listed here are five things that every man should know about ART and what these procedures can do for infertile couples who are ready to have children:
1. Almost all male infertility patients are candidates for ART.
Only a very small percentage of men affected by infertility are living with conditions that completely preclude them from benefitting from ART procedures or any other kind of fertility treatments. However, before a man and his partner opt for ART, fertility specialists will look for simpler, less invasive techniques to help the couple conceive. A doctor will likely only suggest ART if a man’s semen contains no (or very few) normal, healthy sperm and the physician cannot determine the underlying condition with enough accuracy to target it directly.
2. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most common ART procedure performed in the United States.
About 99 percent of all ART treatments in the United States involve IVF. To perform this procedure, a doctor first extracts eggs from a woman’s ovary via a minor surgical procedure. Medical professionals then combine sperm collected by the male partner and the extracted eggs in a laboratory dish. Once embryos form from the fertilized eggs, medical professionals transfer one or multiple embryos to the female partner’s uterus to finish developing, after which they are delivered naturally.
If a couple’s infertility is attributed mainly to male factors, IVF can be an extremely useful procedure to achieve successful conception. If the spermatozoa from the semen sample can successfully fertilize an egg, the embryo is just as likely — if not more likely — to implant than it would in cases of infertility due to female factors.
If a man’s sperm cannot fertilize his partner’s eggs on their own, doctors may choose to use a treatment known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in conjunction with IVF. This procedure, used in over 65 percent of IVF cases, involves medical professionals injecting sperm directly into each egg extracted from the female partner. Every year, more than 17,000 babies are born with the help of ICSI.
3. There are some common risks associated with ART procedures.
Before beginning any ART procedure, it’s important to realize that the process is expensive for the average couple. A single cycle of IVF, for example, costs around $12,000, and this doesn’t include the price of the medications involved, which can total between $3,000 and $5,000. ART procedures also require a significant time investment and may be draining on the mind and emotions.
Apart from the risks of overextending oneself financially and emotionally, IVF has a relatively high likelihood of resulting in multiple births. Data suggests that between 30 and 40 percent of mothers who have participated in IVF have had two or more babies from one cycle, so it’s important for couples to prepare themselves for the possibility that they will become parents to multiple children at a time after treatment.
4. Therapy may be helpful to men and their partners who are using ART.
Given the time, money, and emotional investment that ART procedures require, it’s important for couples to remember that these infertility treatments are not guaranteed to be effective. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a man with a female partner under 35 years of age has a 22 percent chance of his partner carrying a single baby to term and delivering the child at a normal birth weight when using ART to treat male-factor infertility. If his partner is 35 to 37, the number drops to 18 percent. When the female partner is between the ages of 38 and 40, the likelihood of ART succeeding is only 12 percent.
For this and many other reasons, it can be incredibly helpful for couples to seek out psychological support to help navigate the anxiety and strong emotions that, for many people, often accompany the process. The uncertainty that accompanies a process that is both lengthy and extremely emotional can leave men feeling frustrated, confused, depressed, and devoid of self-esteem if the primary infertility factor lies with them. Thus, couples who choose to use ART should consider talking with a counselor or psychotherapist before they begin the process in order to mentally prepare themselves for the experience.
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