At 70, Woman Gives Birth To First Child With Help of IVF Treatment

A post-menopausal Indian woman recently gave birth to her first child using IVF treatment at a fertility clinic in the northern state of Haryana.

In some parts of Asia, not being able to conceive is seen as a "curse from God." Daljinder Kaur and her husband who is now 79 years old have failed conceiving a baby multiple times.

Being married for 46 years, the couple said they have been ridiculed in their conutry.

"When we saw the (IVF) advert, we thought we should also give it a try as I badly wanted to have a baby of my own," Kaur said in an interview.

Detailing the process in an interview, Dr. Anurag Bishnoi, embryologist and owner of the National Fertility and Test Tube Baby Centre in Hisar told Hindusan Times that the couple who firts came to him in 2013 had two failed IVF cycles before finally conceiving last July.

"We started work within two months in 2013 but the first attempt failed, which is normal. After six months, another attempt was made and that also didn't succeed. Finally, the third attempt was successful," Dr. Bishnoi told the news site.

Meanwhile, he also mentioned Kaur is only the second 70-year-old woman who conceived successfully through IVF on the center.

"Our track record in handling IVF in older women has been fairly good, but not everyone is fit to conceive. In her case, she looked visibly frail too, so I had to refer her to a cardiologist to get clearance for the procedure and a battery of other tests to ascertain fitness levels," Dr. Bishnoi added.

According to Mayo Clinic, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of couples have trouble getting pregnant or getting to a successful delivery. In most cases, Infertility results from female infertility.

The causes of female infertility are hard to diagnose, but the website mentioned some such as ovulation disorders or flaws in hormone regulation, damage to fallopian tubes, endometriosis and several uterine or cervical causes.

In Kaur's case, blocked fallopian tubes was the reason.

"Her fallopian tubes were blocked and no attempt was made to detect the cause when she was menstruating. The procedure could have worked better then had efforts been made," he said.

Meanwhile, Kaur's husband blames the delay of pregnancy to lack of awareness about health and treatments that could help them conceive.Aging decreases a woman's chances of having a baby in the following ways but there are available assisted reproductive technology (ART) which may help a couple conceuve. An example is the IVF where the doctor treats the woman with a drug that causes the ovaries to produce multiple eggs.

"Once mature, the eggs are removed from the woman. They are put in a dish in the lab along with the man's sperm for fertilization. After 3 to 5 days, healthy embryos are implanted in the woman's uterus," Woman's Health explains.

Other ART include Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) or Tubal Embryo Transfer, Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).