Reality of fertility treatment – necessity, treatment failure and add-ons

Infertility is a worldwide problem affecting 1 in 6 Australians. As the popularity of ART increases, it is important that specialists and patients are educated on the need for treatment and expected treatment outcomes. With statistics reporting around 60% of ART cycles are not ending in live birth, treatment failure is a common outcome which should be communicated to patients to ensure ART is not seen as a ‘solution’ to infertility. Unnecessary testing or add-on treatments that do not have sufficient evidence supporting their use should be avoided as an answer to treatment failure.