Synopsis:
Five million Americans want children but cannot conceive. One million couples seek infertility treatment every year, almost always without prior knowledge of the physical, emotional, and financial costs of high-tech conception (as a rule it is not covered by insurance), and without any way to judge the hard-sell come-ons of what is now a $2-billion, for-profit, unregulated industry that preys on their desperate hopes by promising outcomes that are all too rarely successful. This authoritative, lucid, balanced, and forthright book describes the very latest information on high-tech conception, with information on techniques of fertilization, the latest research, and the nature and risks of the potent drugs used to assist in fertilization and implantation. Its goal is to help infertile individuals become informed consumers by describing the different procedures, and showing them how to interpret and compare clinics' claimed success rates; examine the factors that affect success; critically assess the safety of the different techniques both for the mothers and the babies born through such procedures; and understand the importance of genetic screening in in vitro fertilization.
From the Back Cover:
If you are among the millions of Americans who want children but have been unable to conceive, this book is for you. If none of the low-tech approaches have worked and you are considering in-vitro fertilization or one of the newer techniques, this is the book you need before beginning your quest for treatment. Providing lucid, balanced, forthright, and thorough information about high-tech conception, it includes guidelines for choosing the right approach for your type of infertility, help in making a realistic appraisal of your chance of success, critical assessments of both the benefits and risks of the newer technologies, detailed step-by-step explanations of the procedures themselves, full-scale profiles of the highly potent drugs used to stimulate ovulation, groundbreaking information on the critically important process of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and much more.
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