What is In-vitro fertilizatio (IVF)?
In-vitro fertilization is one of the most efficient method to overcome infertility. It is an assisted reproductive technique in which the fertilization of ova and sperm take place outside the human body. After the fertilization, the resultant embryo is observed for a short period of time for its growth and then implanted in the uterus and after duration of 2 weeks,the pregnancy gets confirmed.
Why IFV treatment is required?
IVF treatment is required in following cases:
- Unexplained infertility
- Block fallopian tubes
- Ovarian disorder
- Low sperm count
- Low sperm motility
- Endometriosis
Step by Step IVF procedure:
- Fertility drugs are prescribed to patient to suppress the menstruation cycle for 2 weeks and after that gonadotropins are provided for egg stimulation. Its preferred to get multiple eggs as some eggs will not fertilize. Atransvaginal ultrasound is used to view the condition of ovaries and blood samples are required to confirm the hormonal level.
- Collection of egg is the second step and it involves a minor procedure through ultrasound imaging where a pickup needle is inserted through the ultrasound probe into the vagina and then eggs are collected from both the ovaries. The procedure is done under anaesthesia.
- A sperm sample from the male partner is required in order to fuse it with the collected eggs and the resultant embryo would be stored in the laboratory to grow it. In case of low sperm count, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) method is used where only a single sperm is inserted into the egg for fertilization. The fertilized embryos are then left to grow in the laboratory from the first day to the fifth day before being transferred back to the uterus.
- And finally the best selected embryos will be transferred. A soft catheter or a small tube is used by the specialist to pass the embryo through the cervix into the uterus.
Minor side effect of IVF:
People who undergo IVF treatment often report these minor issues like headache, nausea, fatigue, cramping and bloating in pelvic area, insomnia, breast tenderness and discomfort from injections but there are no major issues related to IVF drugs and the procedure.
Success rate:
As compare to other fertility treatments, IVF has 40-50% higher success rate and the chances for the same increases at one’s young age owing to the good quality of eggs than for those women who has cross the age of 35-40 as the quality of egg declines and they yield poor results. With donor eggs the chances increase up to 70-75% and with frozen embryo transfer it reaches to 65-70%.