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Multiple babies through IVF is nothing to boast about – IVF Specialist
While helping women to conceive through in vitro fertilisation [IVF] is nothing short of a miraculously feat, what some people may not know is that there could be a downside to it as well. This notion was underscored recently by the country’s lone infertility specialist, Dr. Madhu Singh.
IVF Specialist, Dr. Madhu Singh
IVF is explained as one of the several techniques available to help people with fertility problems have a baby. During IVF, an egg is removed from the woman’s ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilised egg, called an embryo, is then returned to the woman’s womb to grow and develop.
A major downside to this process referenced by Dr. Singh, during a recent interview, is that of multiple babies.
“Getting multiple babies through IVF is not something to boast about…it is certainly not something we boast about, but multiples do happen sometimes,” Dr. Singh noted.
In explaining the intricacies of multiple babies by IVF, the infertility expert noted that “if it becomes more than two, you are supposed to reduce it. You are not supposed to allow a woman to go through with three and four babies…that is very bad; the outcome can be bad.”
This, Dr. Singh said, can range from the woman having a miscarriage, to other health complications such as the development of diabetes and hypertension.
As she addressed the possibility of a miscarriage, she revealed that once there is a multiple baby pregnancy, one possibility is that “by the time a woman reaches 16 weeks or even before she could have a miscarriage if you allow them to continue.”
Since introducing IVF to Guyana at Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital in 2014, where she also holds the portfolio of Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Singh said that she has only had to reduce one set that surpassed twins.
“I had to reduce only one…we had triplets and I counselled the patient and fortunately she was very understanding and she said go ahead. She went on to have healthy twins at the end of it, so it was fine,” Dr. Singh recounted. But even twins could be a challenge, since they can deliver pre-term, Dr. Singh explained. In the case of her twins, the delivery was at 26 weeks and considerable effort had to be invoked to ensure their wellbeing.
In addition to the risk of multiples and possible miscarriage associated with IVF, Dr. Singh said that there is also the concern of how best to explain the need for reduction to a woman who has been dealing with infertility for many years.
“It is not easy sometimes when you are dealing with a woman who has been trying to conceive for so long and you have to tell her she is going to have three babies but you have to reduce one…half of them [women] would want to freak out and say ‘no, I am quite fine carrying three’ but you have to be able to explain to them that if you insist on carrying the three you may lose them all, so reducing is the best option,” Dr. Singh related.
Dr. Singh sees it as especially important to properly explain to her patients the importance of reduction since she always bears in mind that “if she goes on to have a miscarriage, she is never going to forgive you. There is also a possibility that she will not get pregnant again because she already has all of these infertility issues.”
Reducing multiple babies, Dr. Singh shared, is done by ultrasound guidance and through this means, she said, “we don’t touch the others. We just reduce one…you have to be able to do that if you are doing IVF.”
Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital is the lone IVF Centre in Guyana and currently boasts of a success rate that is on par with those in Barbados and Trinidad. Worldwide, the IVF success rate stands at a mere 20 to 30 percent and commenting on this, Dr. Singh said, “If anybody boasts of more they are just lying.” Last year the published success rate of the United Kingdom was 19 percent.
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