Infertility in India
Infertility is fairly common than you think. In India, every year more than 1 million couples suffer from infertility. Infertility means not being able to become pregnant after a year of trying. If a woman can get pregnant but keeps having miscarriages or stillbirths, that’s also called infertility. After one year of having unprotected sex, about 15 percent of couples are unable to get pregnant.
There are many treatment options available to address infertility, like Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) such as Intrauterine insemination (IUI) & In vitro fertilization (IVF) to name a few. These treatments are in practice for 4 decades and have proven to be the best treatments for infertile couples.
MYTH: ART-treated women has an increased risk for ovarian cancer.
But lately, there has been an in-depth discussion of the association between ART and long-term ovarian tumor incidences. A couple of studies conducted recently concluded that ART-treated women had an increased risk for ovarian cancer compared with the general population.
What Is Ovarian Cancer?
Cancer starts when cells in the body begin to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer and can spread. To learn more about how cancers start and spread.
Ovarian cancers were previously believed to begin only in the ovaries, but recent evidence suggests that many ovarian cancers may actually start in the cells in the far (distal) end of the fallopian tubes.
Symptoms of ovarian cancer
There may not be any symptoms during early-stage of ovarian cancer. It is very difficult to detect at an early-stage of ovarian cancer. However, some symptoms may include:
- pain or discomfort in the abdomen or pelvis
- frequent bloating
- quickly feeling full when eating
- difficulty eating
- a frequent, urgent need to urinate
These symptoms have a sudden onset. They feel different from normal digestion or menstrual discomfort. They also don’t go away. Learn more about how these early signs of ovarian cancer may feel and what you should do if you think you may have this form of cancer.
Other symptoms of ovarian cancer can include:
- lower back pain
- pain during intercourse
- constipation
- indigestion
- fatigue
- a change in the menstrual cycle
- weight gain
- weight loss
- vaginal bleeding
- acne
- back pain that worsens
If you have these symptoms for longer than two weeks, you should seek medical attention.
A most recent study with a median follow-up of 24 years after ART, concluded that ART-treated women do not have an increased risk of ovarian cancer compared with subfertile women not treated with ART when accounting for the higher frequency of nulliparity (never having completed a pregnancy beyond 20 weeks) in the ART group.
The increased risk of ovarian cancer in the ART group compared with the general population appears to be due to nulliparity, a woman who hasn’t given birth to a child, rather than ART treatment or specific subfertility causes.
Image: Pixabay
