Female Infertility

Excerpt

Infertility is a medical condition that can cause psychological, physical, mental, spiritual, and medical detriments to the patient. The unique quality of this medical condition involves affecting both the patient and the patient's partner as a couple. Although male infertility is an important part of any infertility discussion, this paper will review the evaluation, management, and treatment of female infertility. One must understand normal fecundability, the probability of achieving pregnancy in one menstrual cycle, to understand infertility. This basic understanding will help the healthcare team properly counsel the patient on referrals and provide basic education and understanding of this medical condition.

The research community has established a fecundability rate multiple times, which has helped establish normal pregnancy rates to assist in diagnosing infertility. The largest study identified that 85% of women would conceive within 12 months. Based on this study's findings, fecundability is 25% in the first three months of unprotected intercourse and then decreased to 15% for the remaining nine months. This research has helped the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) establish when a couple should undergo an infertility evaluation. The ASRM recommends initiating an evaluation for infertility after failing to achieve pregnancy within 12 months of unprotected intercourse or therapeutic donor insemination in women younger than 35 years or within 6 months in women older than 35.