In 2013, Law 26,862 was enacted in the country to guarantee access free and equal treatment and medical procedures for assisted reproductionboth low and high complexity, for people who want to be mothers and fathers.
In Misiones, the Hospital Escuela de Agudos “Ramón Madariaga” condenses the attention of the entire province and its Assisted Fertilization program sees between ten and fifteen patients per day.
At the Posadeño hospital, low-complexity procedures are currently being performed. This was explained by Dr. Juan Carlos Hobecker, head of the aforementioned program in dialogue with FIRST EDITION: “The patient who has ovulation problems is given treatment so that she ovulates; The patient who has a problem in the fallopian tubes is offered surgery to recanalize them; You can also do an insemination, which simply consists of shortening the path of the sperm by placing the husband’s semen inside the uterus. That is already offered absolutely”.
Nevertheless, there are advances so that in vitro fertilization is incorporated into the service this year, a highly complex procedure that has not yet been performed in the hospital. Although there is still no stipulated date for its implementation, the doctor anticipated: “It is highly probable that this year we can already offer it to patients. We are working on that, in the negotiations that are advanced”.
In vitro fertilization means conceiving the embryo outside the maternal body, precisely in a laboratory, and then transferring it to the uterus and waiting for pregnancy to occur. So far, this procedure is done in private centers in Misiones and before the law was introduced, they were very expensive; now social and prepaid works must cover it 100%.
The health professional pointed out that the first thing that is done with patients is to be able to reach a diagnosis. In this sense, the hospital has all the tools: “Laboratory, radiological images, tomographies, genetic studies”.
The most frequent problems
Hobecker has been working in fertility for more than 30 years and highlighted the main differences between today and long ago. In the first place, he referred to the role of the man in the couple, understanding that the obstacle to conceiving can also be on his side. Secondly, the age of the woman, who prioritizes her personal and professional development, to then think about motherhood. In both, meanwhile, influence stress, overweight, cigarette consumption, alcohol and drugs.
“In young women, maximum fertility is below 30 years of age, declines after 35, and drops significantly after 40. What is happening is that we have more and more patients who are young for life, but not for fertility. They are patients who, at the age of 40, after developing their entire professional lives, decide to have a child, but they are already at a time when spontaneous fertility has dropped significantly.”, explained Hobecker, who works closely with Dr. Carolina Goetze.
In this sense, regarding where the impossibility of achieving pregnancy lies, both in men and women, he explained that in the male it is found in the varicocele (varicose vein in the testicle) and in the females problems in the fallopian tubes and the advanced age.
However, it can also happen thatthe two individually are healthy and are not compatible, it is not the appropriate term but I use it so that it is understood. So maybe later they change partners and they do get pregnant”.
Asked about why age influences a woman’s fertility so much, the professional specified: “The woman is born with a certain number of ovules and consumes them over the years; man makes sperm every day. That is the fundamental difference, that is why the age of 40 is more complex for fertility in women than in men”.
Several tries until I get it
In most cases, patients must try more than once to get pregnant. “The average rate of in vitro fertilization, which is the most that can be offered in terms of fertility, develops 30%, that is, out of every three or four patients who undergo the procedure, statistically one becomes pregnant but two do not. That’s why the guarantee is not complete.”.
Initially, she said, the pregnancies achieved through this medical procedure were more than two. He himself carried out the process after which the first triplets conceived by this method in the province were born, who are almost 30 years old.
“The ultimate goal is to have the pregnancy, but as far as possible it is unique. Because some quintuplets, for example, it’s nice to see them walk in the square afterwards, but they were born premature, they had two or three months of child therapy and some did not survive”.
