5.3.6 - The use of hormones to treat infertility

Question 1

How can fertility be increased - 2 ways

Answer 1

-using hormones
-IVF

Question 2

How can fertility be increased if a woman has low levels of FSH

Answer 2

• low levels FSH - egg won’t mature
• give FSH in pill form - eggs mature
• LH to stimulate ovulation (egg release)

Question 3

When is IVF used

Answer 3

If hormonal methods of increasing fertility don’t work

Question 4

How does IVF work (in vitro fertilisation)
5 stages

Answer 4

1. Women given FSH and LH - stimulate eggs to mature
2. Eggs collected from ovaries
3. Eggs fertilised by sperm from Father in a laboratory
4. Eggs placed in incubator and left to grow into embryos (tiny balls of cells)
5. Embryo(s) inserted into mother’s uterus, where it should grow into a foetus

Question 5

PROS of IVF

Answer 5

• can allow infertile couples to have children

Question 6

CONS of IVF

Answer 6

• doesn’t always work - UK - 25% success rate
• stressful
• emotionally upsetting
• physically upsetting - e.g. many women get abdominal plain and vomiting
• often put multiple embryos in uterus in hope of at least one developing, so often leads to multiple births - higher risk of complications e.g. miscarriage and still-birth

Question 7

Why are some people against IVF

Answer 7

results in unused embryos eventually being destroyed, when they had the potential for human life

Question 8

2 effects of improved microscope technology.

Answer 8

• improved success rate
• remove single cells from an embryo, so we can do genetic tests and find out characteristics - fears of designer babies