IVF Specialist Dr Rohan Palshetkar Breaks The Myths About IVF

BabyChkara Advisory Board member, Dr Rohan Palshetkar, is not just one of the best IVF Specialists, but he is an equally renowned endoscopic surgeon, obstetrician and gynaecologist. Besides that, he is also Head of Unit at D.Y.Patil Bloom IVF, an associate professor at the D.Y.Patil School of Medicine, and consultant OBGY at hospitals like Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, Surya Hospital, Santacruz, Breach Candy Hospital, D.Y.Patil Hospital, and Palshetkar Patil Nursing Home.

He is a joint Treasurer, Maharashtra Chapter of IAGE, 2nd Joint Secretary of AMOGS and a managing committee member of Mumbai Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society and Maharashtra Chapter of ISAR. He has helped to promote the advancement of science and scientific research in the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology and was also awarded the Trendsetter 2022 Award for Excellence for the same.

In a conversation with BabyChakra, Dr Rohan Palshetkar clears some of the myths about IVF and talks about the biggest problem that infertility treatment is facing today.

You have been actively promoting women’s health. What are some of the issues you have faced when promoting it?

Promoting women’s health is usually difficult due to a lack of reach into the interiors. The urban population can get its information through various outlets however it is difficult to disseminate information into the interiors, especially in the regional languages.

What are the most common causes of infertility?

Infertility is divided into 4 aspects:

– male infertility (30%)

– female infertility (30%)

– both male and female (30%)

– unexplained infertility (10%)

In a male, the most common problem is in the sperm where the count, motility and normal shape and size of the sperm can get affected. It can be due to multiple factors such as stress, smoking, tobacco chewing, alcohol, drugs, anabolic steroids, infections and genetics. 

In females, it is a much more complex issue, as multiple factors can affect the female reproductive tract which includes the uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries and cervix. Various factors such as PCOS, blocked tubes, endometriosis, fibroids, infections, smoking, alcohol, drugs etc can lead to problems in conceiving.

The last problem we face is where all factors that can possibly affect a couple are ruled out and everything is normal. These are cases of unexplained infertility where mental fatigue can consume a patient and cause difficulty in conceiving

A lot of women are scared of the side effects of IVF what do you have to tell them about the myths? 

There is a huge myth regarding IVF treatment side effects. Women are worried about side effects such as weight gain, hormones side effects, abnormal babies etc. 

Let me begin with the most common one asked to me which is weight gain. It is true that there is weight gain during the IVF procedure, however, it is only water retention and as soon as your get your period, it disappears.

The hormonal injections you receive daily are metabolised by your body within 24 hours therefore even daily injections don’t have a long-term effect on your body if you are doing 1 or 2 cycles. 

Thirdly, the babies born via IVF pregnancies contain the genetics of the parents, therefore whatever predisposed genetic factors are present, will be the only risk the child will have irrespective of IVF pregnancy or natural pregnancy.

How did you manage to help your patients during the lockdown since many of them had to put their fertility treatment on hold?

During the lockdown, it was a difficult situation as infertility management was not one of the essential emergency services. However, I had to do online consults to reassure my patients during the lockdown and keep them mentally fit and healthy. 

But during the lockdown period, I was delivering covid positive mothers ensuring that they had a safe and uneventful delivery. We made sure that the babies were with the mothers and breastfed as per the guidelines proposed by the WHO and the Indian government.

Has there been any one challenging case in your career? 

There have been multiple challenging cases in my career, and to narrow it down to one is difficult. However, one case which I remember is a couple who had been trying to conceive for eight years and had undergone four IVF failure cycles had come to me. 

We had to implement multiple technologies such as genetic analysis of the couple, assessment of the uterine cavity using a 2.9mm camera (Hysteroscopy), preimplantation genetic testing, IMSI and sequential transfer. Using these multiple technologies, we were able to help her get pregnant and she delivered a healthy baby girl last year.

What would you say is the biggest problem that infertility treatment faces today? 

The biggest problem that we are facing today in infertility treatment is awareness. Even today we have couples coming at a much later age for treatment saying that we weren’t aware of it. 

Another major issue that I see is, that women are unaware of the fact that they can do fertility preservation at a younger age if they have chosen to delay parenthood for any reason, such as furthering their professional career, not finding a partner or deciding to have a child at a later age.

Tell us about your role as the Advisory Board in BBC.

Being a part of the advisory board of BabyChakra is truly an honour. I must thank Naiyya Saggi for taking me on board. Together we are able to tackle women’s health issues together by ensuring that we are bringing about awareness regarding various issues in women’s health. We get queries from a variety of women’s forums and through that, we better understand what women are lacking in the health care journey.

Image source: Dr Rohan Palshetkar