How Is Female Infertility Treated? continued...

How Is Female Infertility Treated? continued...

Hysteroscopy . In this procedure, your doctor places a hysteroscope into your uterus through your cervix. It's used to remove polyps and fibroid tumors, divide scar tissue, and open up blocked tubes.

Medication. If you have ovulation problems, you may be prescribed drugs such as clomiphene citrate (Clomid, Serophene), gonadotropins (such as Gonal-F, Follistim, Humegon and Pregnyl), or letrozole.

Gonadotropins can trigger ovulation when Clomid or Serophene don't work. These drugs also can also help you get pregnant by causing your ovaries to release multiple eggs. Normally, only one egg is released each month.

Your doctor may suggest that you take gonadotropin if you have unexplained infertility or when other kinds of treatment haven't helped you get pregnant.

Metformin (Glucophage) is another type of medication that may help you ovulate normally if you have insulin resistance or PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome).

Intrauterine insemination. For this procedure, after semen gets rinsed with a special solution, a doctor places it into your uterus when you're ovulating. It's sometimes done while you're taking meds that help trigger the release of an egg.

In vitro fertilization (IVF). In this technique, your doctor places eggs into your uterus that were fertilized in a dish.

You take gonadotropins that trigger the development of more than one egg. When the eggs are mature, your doctor collects them with a device called a vaginal ultrasound probe.

Sperm are then collected, washed, and added to the eggs in the dish. Several days later, embryos -- or fertilized eggs -- get put back into your uterus with a device called an intrauterine insemination catheter.

If you and your partner agree, extra embryos can be frozen and saved to use later.

ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). A doctor injects sperm directly into the egg in a dish and then places it into your uterus.

GIFT (gamete intrafallopian tube transfer) and ZIFT (zygote intrafallopian transfer).  Like IVF, these procedures involve retrieving an egg, combining it with sperm in a lab, and then transferring it back to your body.

In ZIFT, your doctor places the fertilized eggs -- at this stage called zygotes -- into your fallopian tubes within 24 hours. In GIFT, the sperm and eggs are mixed together before a doctor inserts them.

Egg donation. This can help you if you have ovaries that don't work right but you have a normal uterus. It involves removing eggs from the ovary of a donor who has taken fertility drugs. After in vitro fertilization, your doctor transfers the fertilized eggs into your uterus.