Contact us:

Actions and Side Effects of Drugs

You may be aware of media publicity about the development of breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer after treatment with infertility drugs. However, women who suffer from long standing infertility are known to be at increased risk of developing ovarian, breast and endometrial cancer, regardless of whether they have had no infertility treatment, used infertility drugs or received IVF treatment.

A recent study conducted at Monash University has confirmed this and more research is being undertaken. The Fertility Society of Australia believes no cessation of correctly used infertility medicines should occur because no study to date has shown that these medicines increase the risk of malignancy.

It is also appropriate that all patients having ovarian stimulation therapy in the treatment of their infertility should have regular breast examinations and transvaginal ultrasound assessment of their ovaries. Please ask your consultant or coordinator for further information if you are concerned.

Side Effects after Procedures

1. After an ultrasound egg pick-up you may have a vaginal discharge. If it persists or becomes offensive, please contact the coordinator.

2. Initially after a laparoscopy, you may experience some localised pain around the wound. Take Paracetamol (Panadol) for this. Should the pain persist, please contact your doctor. Shoulder tip pain may occur and persist for a couple of days. This is related to the carbon dioxide that is used to distend the abdomen in theatre and which helps the doctor to see the tubes and the ovaries. You may also find that your abdomen feels bloated, but this will subside.

3. Surgical Complications – bleeding complications and infection can occur with both procedures. Damage to internal organs such as the bowel can occur during the laparoscopy and ultrasound pick-up which might require a laparotomy.

4. Anaesthetic Complications, minor and major, may occur during both procedures and include;

Sore throat

Post operative nausea/vomiting

Drowsiness

Allergic rash

Anaphylaxis (allergic reaction) causing breathing and circulatory problems

Aspiration of stomach contents into the lungs

Inadequate reversal of muscle relaxant causing difficulty in swallowing, breathing and double vision.

Death, but this is extremely unlikely in healthy women under 50 years of age.

Further Complications & Problems related to IVF & related procedures

We hope that you will achieve a pregnancy and have a healthy baby, but we believe that you should know the problems that may arise at each stage:

1.Ovulation Induction may not stimulate the ovaries sufficiently. Your doctor will usually then decide to stop the drug therapy for that month. This happens to about 5% of patients. Different regimes may be tried in further treatment cycles.

2.Ovulation may rarely occur spontaneously, prohibiting adequate egg retrieval.

3.Access to the ovaries may be impaired and the oocytes unable to be retrieved.

4.In approximately 8% of treatment cycles, collected oocytes do not fertilize.

5.In a standard stimulation cycle, the aim is to retrieve the eggs at the optimum stage of development. However some eggs will never achieve optimum development and this can therefore affect fertilization. It will also affect the availability of eggs suitable for injection in ICSI.

6. Transferred embryos may not implant resulting in a period 7 to 14 days later. This is the most important common reason that a pregnancy does not result.

7.Pregnancy loss (miscarriage). Unfortunately 20% of pregnancies result in a miscarriage whether conceived naturally or through IVF procedures. Miscarriages in the over 40 age group can be as high as 50%.

8. The incidence of ectopic pregnancy is approximately 6%.

9. Moderate hyperstimulation requiring hospitalisation - approximately 0.5%. Patients at risk of developing hyperstimulation will not have a Fresh Embryo Transfer. The embryos will be frozen and used in subsequent frozen embryo transfer cycles.

10. Multiple pregnancy - because up to 3 eggs or 3 embryos can be transferred to the tubes or uterus, there is a risk of multiple pregnancy. Approximately 15% of IVF pregnancies will be twins and about 1% triplets. Multiple pregnancies also have a higher incidence of premature births and low birth weight babies. These babies are at a greater risk of a major disability such as cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and mental impairment.

For women 35 and under, the unit has a policy of replacing only 2 eggs or 2 embryos, to reduce the chance of multiple pregnancy, although sometimes there will be exceptions based on clinical grounds.

It is also important to understand that women who suffer from long standing infertility and who fall pregnant either spontaneously or with the aid of IVF treatments, have an increased risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, intrauterine growth retardation of the foetus and early labour.

Return to top

Wesley Monash IVF
Diary,

Job Opportunities