Category: Female Fertility

Who Stole My Fertility ?

by Dr Agilan Arjunan, Fertility Specialist & Gynaecologist, KL Fertility Centre (Malaysia)

Published in The Star (Fit For Life ) : http://www.star2.com/health/wellness/2017/07/09/who-stole-my-fertility/

According to medical history, in the periods of Hippocrates in 460-375 BC , fibroid was known as ‘uterine stone’. The first surgery for fibroid was done for the American President Abraham Lincoln’s cousin in 1809. The term fibroid was introduced in 1860.

Many women had been diagnosed with uterine fibroid. For some the fibroid is not medically important but for some women, fibroid can cause infertility.

What is uterine fibroid?

A woman’s womb or uterus is made up of muscles known as ‘myometrium’ . This ‘myometrium’  is composed of many strands of muscle fibres.

Fibroids arise from genetic alteration in a single muscle fibre. This causes the muscles to overgrow and form a fibroid. Circulating female hormone called oestrogen can cause growth of the fibroid.

However, fibroids can also grow in low oestrogen environment , possibly due to conversion of male hormone called androgens into oestrogen. Yes, females have male hormones too!

The problem with fibroid is , it can be a silent killer. Woman may have fibroids without ever knowing about it!  This is because not all the fibroids cause symptoms. Whether the fibroid causes a problem depends on the size and location of the fibroid.

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Fertility & Gynaecology E-newsletter Vol 2 (June 2017)

by Dr Agilan Arjunan , Fertility Specialist , KL Fertility Centre ( Malaysia).

This is the 2nd volume of my Fertility & Gynaecology E-newsletter.

Click here to download pdf version:  With Dr A newsletter June 2017

Full article about the content written in this e-newsletter can be read here :

https://dragilan.com/2017/04/26/fertility-fitness-dr-agilan-ivf-kl-fertility-centre-malaysia/

 

Fertility Tests Simplified

by Dr Agilan Arjunan , Fertility Specialist , KL Fertility Centre (Malaysia)

Have you ever gone through a fertility assessment before?

For those who had done it , you know that it can initially look very complicated with all those internal ultrasound scans, blood tests, x-ray tests and sperm test. For those who have not, rest easy as all those tests are simplified for you.

Fertility test are divided into 2 , tests for female and test for male partner.

For a man , the most important test is a semen analysis (sperm test). About a third of couples has a major problem with the male partner and thus it is very important to do this test.

“A 70 year old man can still reproduce, so this can’t be a major issue right?” . Its yes and a no. It is true that a man continues to produce sperm but the QUALITY of the sperm deteriorates as he ages. Low sperm quality equals to low chance to conceive.

What is looked for in a sperm test ?  

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Pirates Of Fertility : The Curse Of The Fibroids

by Dr Agilan Arjunan, Fertility Specialist, KL Fertility Centre (Malaysia)

Hi ! We meet again in another of our educational ‘story’.

Many of you may be familiar with the 2003 movie ‘Pirates of The Caribbean : The Curse of The Black Pearl’. The curse of the Aztec King made the pirates, who stole the golds,  undead and miserable.

Let me tell you of another curse that existed long ago that till today plagues our women…The curse of the Fibroid.

According to medical history, in the periods of Hippocrates in 460-375 BC , it was known as ‘uterine stone’. The first surgery for fibroid was done for the American President Abraham Lincoln’s cousin in 1809. The term fibroid was introduced in 1860.

Many women has fibroid , so what is the curse?

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Fertility Fitness

 

by Dr Agilan Arjunan , Fertility Specialist , KL Fertility Centre (Malaysia)

Article Published in Fit For Life , The Star (14th May 2017): http://www.star2.com/health/wellness/2017/05/14/fit-to-be-fertile/

“ The word fitness is synonymous with healthy lifestyle . What about fertility fitness ? ”

Fitness is part of our lifestyle. This concept is widely accepted thanks to our health educational efforts. Fitness and healthy lifestyle is commonly associated with prevention of lifestyle related diseases. Many healthcare campaigns over the years have proven effective in reducing the disease burden in our society. Despite all these efforts , how many of us are aware of fertility fitness ?

What is fertility fitness

Fertility is the state of being fertile . Fertile is the  ability of every men and women to produce offsprings or children. Fitness is a condition of being physically fit and healthy.

 

Therefore, fertility fitness is a condition where a man and woman is physically fit and healthy to produce children.

Fertility fitness also encompass ‘emotional fitness’ to be ready and able to embrace parenthood.

Why fertility fitness 

It is a well known fact that fertility rate is declining . This fact is true for both men and women. In other words, the rate of male and female infertility is rising in the last 10 years.

All of us might agree that prevention is better than cure. This is true for health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. We take care of our food and physical fitness to ‘avoid’ developing those conditions.

However, when it comes to fertility health , we tend to  pay attention to it when we are facing difficulty conceiving (infertility). We prefer to ‘treat’ infertility rather than ‘prevent’ infertility.

You may ask , “If I pay attention to fertility fitness ,can I avoid infertility ?” .

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