MAKING babies is no laughing matter. For those who have problems conceiving, it is a very sensitive subject. While ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) has been around for years, people are still confused by all the acronyms – IUI, IVF, ICSI. What does it all mean?

IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) is for those who are healthy (the woman has healthy fallopian tubes and the man has satisfactory sperm quality) but are still unable to conceive.

IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) is for women who have blocked fallopian tubes or men who have poor sperm quality, or those who have failed to conceive via the IUI method.

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is for men with very low or poor quality sperm count or whose sperms are blocked within the testicles.

Obstetrician-gynaecologist Dr Fong Chee Kin says that married couples who have a strong desire to have children, and who have been trying to conceive for a certain period of time, should go for fertility treatment.

“The results are actually very similar to what happens in nature. It’s not 100% or even 80%. If you take 100 women who are having regular intercourse for one month, only 30% will conceive. So all our results are actually about that, too,” he says.

According to Dr Fong, about 10% of the population has fertility problems and most patients go for timed intercourse, IUI, IVF and ICSI treatments as well as the frozen embryo transfer.

“My advice to couples is try to get pregnant while they’re young. That’s the most important message. We don’t like them to come to us for treatment. We would prefer it if they can get pregnant on their own and the most important thing is age. Don’t delay the pregnancy till they are 35 and above,” he says. -The Star/ANN