IVF Treatment Abroad: What You Need To Know
IVF Treatment Abroad: What You Need To Know
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is one of several techniques to enable couples, or individuals who wish to do so without a partner, to have a baby when for whatever reason they are not able to conceive naturally.
In some areas of the UK, for some people, IVF treatment is available via the NHS. However, given the demand for the procedure, there can often be strict criteria, age limits, variances by region and a cap on the number of times a patient is allowed to pursue the treatment.
Even when NHS treatment is available, there may be very long waiting lists, which can be a cause of great anxiety for those concerned about their age after years of fertility problems.
Private treatment for IVF can reportedly cost £5,000 or more for one treatment cycle, excluding the cost of necessary drugs and other extra requirements. As such, an increasing number of people seeking IVF treatment will look abroad to access the treatment for much less.
In addition, it might be the case that treatment abroad is considered to have a higher success rate, due to higher numbers of donors enabling higher numbers of embryos to be transferred, which as a consequence offers the patient a higher chance of getting pregnant.
What is IVF?
In short, IVF involves fertilising an egg with a sperm in an incubator, with the aim of achieving a pregnancy.
The first step in the IVF treatment itself is stimulation of the ovaries with drug treatment to encourage the release of multiple eggs, whereas only a single egg would normally be released during a monthly cycle.
Such treatment is usually carried out via self-administered injections which your chosen clinic will normally show you how to carry out. After this course of drug treatment, these eggs are then collected from the ovaries. The eggs are then fertilised in a laboratory, where the fertilised egg (embryo) is allowed to develop for up to five days, after which time it is transferred into the womb of the woman who will carry the baby to term.
What is involved in the procedure?
After all initial consultations, health screening and specific fertility tests are completed, some of which may be transferable in terms of results from tests carried out in the UK, the ovarian stimulation process can begin. Typically, there may be four appointments with your selected clinic:
-consultation
-stimulation
-egg retrieval
-embryo transfer
Aftercare
Once the embryo transfer process is complete, patients are likely to leave the clinic a short time later and are able to travel back to the UK. Often, they will do so later the same day.
A pregnancy test can be carried out 14 days after the embryo transfer and once a pregnancy is confirmed, the patient can be given all relevant care via the GP and midwife team in the UK.
Your stay abroad
Even with the cost of travel and accommodation, people often find that getting their IVF treatment abroad is more cost effective than in the UK. However, most medical travel insurance providers might not insure the individual against trips for the purpose of IVF. Or there may be exclusions to the policy which mean that you are not covered in the event of certain complications. In contrast, Medical Travel Shield IVF/Fertility travel insurance cover includes hysteroscopy procedures and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) which can be a life-threatening condition. For more information contact us on 0203 409 1236 or email info@medicaltravelshield.com
This content is based on a variety of third-party sources and is for information purposes only and Medical Travel Shield is not recommending elective IVF treatment, or any other surgical procedure abroad.