diagnosis guide
If you’ve just received a medical diagnosis, or you’re concerned that something in your present or past health history might be jeopardizing your fertility, check here for quick info on common medical conditions and how they can affect conception and pregnancy.
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Unexplained Infertility
What It Is
The inability to conceive after one year of regular unprotected intercourse despite no apparent medical cause.
Who Gets It
Roughly 15 percent of all infertile couples are given a diagnosis of unexplained infertility, since no cause for their inability to conceive can be found.
Symptoms
Couples with unexplained infertility fail to get pregnant, even though medical tests find no cause in either partner. They may simply be very slow to conceive naturally, or have problems that are so subtle that scientists aren’t aware of them yet or that don’t show up on current tests.
How It's Diagnosed/Detected
A diagnosis of unexplained infertility is a diagnosis of exclusion, made only after accepted fertility check-ups and testing have been completed for both the woman and man. Such work-ups typically include complete physicals and medical and sexual histories for both partners. The man will have a semen analysis to check the quantity and quality of his sperm. A woman likely will have blood tests to check for hormone imbalances, tests to make sure she’s ovulating, and a hysterosalpingogram, or special x-ray of the fallopian tubes and uterus to make sure they are not blocked by scar tissue. Some doctors recommend more invasive procedures such as laparoscopy or endometrial biopsy to check a sample of the uterine lining.
How It Affects Fertility (And Pregnancy)
Being told that all the tests came back normal is emotionally devastating for couples unable to conceive. Many tend to “doctor shop” and pursue questionable and meaningless testing in search of answers.
Treatment
For young couples, under 30 or 35, simply giving it more time is perhaps the best option. Those who don’t want to wait, or who have waited long enough already, can pursue assisted reproduction techniques, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) in which eggs are fertilized with sperm in the laboratory, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in which a single sperm is injected into an egg. Another method is gonadotrophin plus IUI – hormones to stimulate ovulation, plus intrauterine insemination, in which a solution of “washed” sperm is inserted directly into the uterus.
Pregnancy Prognosis
In the first three years of unexplained infertility, one in three couples will have a successful pregnancy with no treatment at all. Over 10 years, chances rise to 60 percent.
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