Glossary Of Infertility Terms And Their Meaning

If there is one thing many African couples or couples to be do not want to experience, it is inability to bring forth children. Childbearing is an integral part of marriage and family and in Africa, a home without children is mostly a thing of scorn, pity worry and sorrow, especially on the woman’s part. Even though medical evidence shows that men and women usually have the same rates of infertility, African tradition views infertility as always the woman’s fault.
The deceased Ibidunni Ighodalo’s journey of over 10 IVFs and still unable to have a baby is a perfect example of the pressure, scorn and shame women go through in African families.
What Is Infertility?
As culled from WHO’s website, it is a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse (WHO-ICMART glossary). Another definition from Semen manual, 5th Edition says Infertility is the inability of a sexually active, non-contracepting couple to achieve pregnancy in one year.
The two key things deduced from and common to these two definitions are – 12 months/1 year and failure of achieving pregnancy, meaning in simple terms, one is considered infertile if he/she cannot impregnate a woman or get pregnant as a woman in the space of 1 year despite having unprotected sexual intercourse.Glossary Of Infertility Terms And Their Meaning
Causes
As contained in a research article The Problem of Infertility in Africa by writer Amakwe Bosco Ebere, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are the main cause of infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Other factors in women according to Mayo Clinic are ovulation disorders, damages to the fallopian tubes and many other, while abnormal sperm production or function due, genetic defects, health problems such as diabetes and others are named for men
Terminologies And Meaning
1. Primary infertility:
A woman who has never been pregnant or pregnant and never carried it to full term is said to have this type of infertility. WHO says a woman who is unable to bear a child, either due to the inability to become pregnant or the inability to carry a pregnancy to a live birth, she would be classified as having primary infertility. Thus, women whose pregnancy miscarries, or whose pregnancy results in a still born child, without ever having had a live birth would present with primarily infertility.
2. Secondary infertility:  Unlike primary, women who have this type of infertility must have had a child or children before but is unable to have more. When a woman is unable to bear a child, according to WHO, either due to the inability to become pregnant or the inability to carry a pregnancy to a live birth following either a previous pregnancy or a previous ability to carry a pregnancy to a live birth, she would be classified as having secondary infertility. Thus those who repeatedly miscarry or whose pregnancy results in a stillbirth, or following a previous pregnancy or a previous ability to do so, are then not unable to carry a pregnancy to a live birth would present with secondarily infertile.
3. Antisperm Antibody Test: A test that can determine if antibodies on the surface of sperm are interfering with the ability of sperm to move, penetrate the cervical mucus, or fertilize an egg.
4. Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART): The general term for infertility procedures (involving both egg and sperm) such as IVF, GIFT, ZIFT, and ICSI.
5. Female Factor Infertility: The condition when a couple’s inability to achieve pregnancy is attributed to the woman.
6. Male Factor Infertility: The condition when a couple’s inability to achieve pregnancy is attributed to the man.
7. Gestation : The period of fetal development in the uterus from conception to birth, usually 40 weeks in humans.
8. Reproductive Endocrinologists (RE): Physicians trained in obstetrics and gynecology who further specialize and are certified to treat infertility with surgical procedures and technologies associated with physician-assisted reproduction.Glossary Of Infertility Terms And Their Meaning9. Adhesion: refers to scar tissue that abnormally attaches to internal organs, such as the fallopian tubes, ovaries, bladder, uterus or other internal organs. They usually wrap up or distort these organs, limiting their movement, function and cause infertility and pain.
10. Clinical Pregnancy: A pregnancy in which the beating of the fetus’ heart has been identified by ultrasound scan.
11. Amenorrhea: A condition in which a woman doesn’t have menstrual periods.
12. Anovulation: A condition in which a woman doesn’t ovulate or ovulates rarely.
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13. Azoospermia: When a man has no sperm present in his semen.
14. Endometriosis: The growth of endometrium (the tissue from the lining of the uterus) outside of the uterus or in abnormal locations such as the ovaries, fallopian tubes and abdominal cavity. This leads to local irritation and inflammation that can cause scarring to occur. It can also bind-up pelvic organs to the point of dysfunction (one of which is infertility) and pain.Glossary Of Infertility Terms And Their Meaning15. Fibroids: Overgrowth of the muscular tissue of the uterus. Fibroids are typically knotty masses of muscle tissue and can distort the shape and function of the uterus.
16. Polyspermy: An abnormal condition where the woman’s egg (oocyte) is fertilized by more than 1 sperm.
17. Unexplained Infertility: Inability to identify the cause of infertility despite a complete evaluation of semen, ovarian reserve, ovulation, endocrinologic disorders and pelvic anatomy.
18. Cervical Factor: Infertility due to a structural or hormonal abnormality of the cervix. This can be induced by previous surgery on the cervix that leaves the cervical canal scarred or closed, termed stenosis. Cervical factor infertility can usually be overcome using inseminations of sperm past the cervix in to the uterus, according to experts.
19. Spontaneous Abortion – A miscarriage or the unintended termination of a pregnancy before the twentieth week.
20. Sterility – The total inability to reproduce. Not to be confused with unable to achieve pregnancy.
Glossary Of Infertility Terms And Their Meaning
Glossary Of Infertility Terms And Their Meaning
Photos Credit: Getty

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