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Stem Cell and IVF Treatment

What is IVF?

IVF treatment is the process of fertilizing the reproductive cells taken from the mother and father in a laboratory environment and then transferring the eggs back to the mother. The mother's eggs are stimulated with certain medications. The treatment is a great source of hope for all families who cannot have children naturally. However, the success rate of IVF treatment has not been transferred to any patient over 60%. Couples should know that their chances of having a baby on the first try are very small. IVF treatment can be applied up to 10 times if all the financial and moral conditions are suitable.



Couples who cannot have a baby the first time experience great psychological disappointment and avoid making the next attempt, believing that they will no longer be able to have a baby. On the contrary, if you are a young couple, know that this is valuable and that age greatly affects the success rate of IVF treatment. The treatment you give up at a young age in despair will not help you in the following years, even if you want it. IVF has become easily applicable today. IVF treatment is carried out with a number of physical procedures, but it is a treatment process that definitely requires psychological support. Couples should forget about the 100% success rate from the very beginning and even get used to the fact that it will not happen on the first try; because if you are young, there may be a glimmer of hope for a pregnancy that cannot be achieved on the first try. For treatment, you should first consult specialists and doctors you trust, and then completely quit smoking, alcohol and stimulants if you use them.

Couples who fail the first attempt can start IVF treatment again after a period of 1 month, but keeping the interval and waiting period short is always advantageous. The understanding of couples during this process is very important for both the treatment process and the marriage bond. One should never completely lose hope. Developing technology is bringing new breaths to IVF treatment. Stem cell treatment is just one of them. It is foreseen that new treatment methods will be found day by day.


Risks in IVF treatment

Like every pregnancy achieved through natural means, there is a risk of miscarriage in IVF, but there are also a few other risks. For example, the risk of multiple pregnancy. This problem, which may occur to couples undergoing IVF treatment, is actually understood at the beginning of the treatment. This risk is the situation of being pregnant with twins or more children. Ectopic pregnancy is another risk factor. This risk manifests itself with bleeding, but it is revealed as a result of various detailed research and tests. You should never skip your check-ups after treatment. Even if pregnancy is seen, if you experience abdominal pain or bleeding, consult your doctor immediately.



What is stem cell and what are its sources?

Stem cells are the main cells found in the human body that form organs and can transform into any type of body cell. These cells can divide an unlimited number of times, renew themselves, and transform into new organs or tissues. They go to the area in the body that needs damage or repair and transform into the required cell form to eliminate the damage. They rush to help in the form of an emergency room in our body in every situation such as cuts, burns, heart attacks, etc. The most stem cells in the human body are found in the womb, that is, in the baby in the fetal state. As time progresses, the stem cells in our body also begin to decrease, which is why a young person's broken arm heals much faster than an old person's and many similar ailments.


Sources of stem cells are:

Embryonic, fetal and adult

Embryonic stem cell: After fertilization, two-celled stem cells called zygote are formed. In the next stage after fertilization, a hollow structure called blastocyst is formed and contains 2 types of cells. The one in the center of these forms the embryonic stem cell and embryonic cells can transform into all mature cells.


Fetal stem cell: The embryo becomes a fetus 8 weeks after fertilization. It provides the formation of eggs and sperm 1 month after development.


Adult stem cell: This cell is very different from the others and begins to develop after birth in humans or animals. However, the most suitable place to obtain it is the bone marrow.


Functions of Stem Cells

  • New blood cell production

  • Transplantation

  • Diabetes

  • The heart's self-renewal phase

  • Immune-related diseases and,

  • It has a serious regenerative and healing effect on the nervous system.


In addition to all these, there is now hope for stem cell in vitro fertilization treatment with today's technology. This method used has led to very important developments. What makes stem cells a difficult treatment is that adult tissues contain too many cells and therefore it is not easy to identify stem cells. It requires very meticulous and delicate work to distinguish the right stem cell in mature tissue. Another reason is to differentiate the stem cell correctly, and the difficulty of preparing the right environments for this correct differentiation makes stem cells a difficult treatment. Scientists are still continuing their work for these studies, which require a large number of experiments. The difficult part is that the new stem cells injected must adapt to other cells and organs. For example, if injected into the brain, the stem cells must solve the chaotic structure of the brain without any problems and adapt. In some cases, the body perceives the new stem cells given to the body during organ transplants as foreign and rejects them.


In IVF Treatment;

All the research done has proven that stem cells will be a new hope in infertility treatment. However, since the studies are still ongoing, we have couples who are waiting for the results of the research and aim to have children this way. Stem cells have the ability to reproduce all types of cells and of course themselves. Stem cells can be produced from organs or embryos found in the human body.


First obtained from a mouse, embryonic stem cells are still used for treatment research today because it is forbidden to use human embryos. Various cells can be created from mature tissues. Since the cells in the uterus are produced from the cells in the bone marrow, stem cells are a great hope in infertility treatment. Studies have shown that stem cells can be made from embryos. It is now known that stem cells in the ovaries can be used to obtain mature eggs in the laboratory. Studies are still ongoing to ensure that this information creates healthy embryos and then children, and these studies take time. Stem cells, which can turn into any type of cell and have a regenerative effect, are intended to be used in sperm and egg formation or to create embryos in proper tissue. In this era where in vitro fertilization treatment is gaining momentum day by day, stem cell studies are developing many features that will positively affect the treatment. Although there are couples who are only waiting for stem cell results in in vitro fertilization, advancing age negatively affects in vitro fertilization treatment. As age increases, the healthy DNA of the ovaries deteriorates and it becomes much more difficult for the body to prepare the necessary environment for pregnancy. Therefore, we should use the opportunities we have without wasting time. It can never be known with certainty when scientific studies will be completed or what results they will yield.

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