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| Treatments - In Vitro Fertilization |
Normally, in order for you to get pregnant, your ovary must release an egg, which is then fertilized by a sperm in your fallopian tube—in other words, fertilization normally happens inside the female body. When any part of this fertilization process is affected, IVF can be used to allow fertilization to happen outside of your body. IVF is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish. If the IVF procedure is successful and an embryo is formed, the process is combined with an Embryo Transfer, which is a procedure that physically places the embryo into the uterus, where it will hopefully implant and continue to grow.
You may a candidate for IVF if you have:
- blocked or damaged tubes
- unexplained infertility
- endometriosis
- failure of IUI
- male factor infertility
causing sperm problems
| The IVF and Embryo Transfer process involve several steps: |
| 1. |
Stimulate and monitor the development of healthy egg(s) in the ovaries. This involves about 10 days of ovarian stimulation with fertility injections. Frequent visits to the clinic for blood work and ultrasound studies are mandatory during this stimulation period. |
| 2. |
Collect the eggs |
| 3. |
Collect the sperm |
| 4. |
Combine the eggs and sperm together in the laboratory |
| 5. |
Provide the appropriate environment for fertilization and early embryo growth |
| 6. |
Transfer embryos into the uterus after a 3-5 day incubation period |
| Egg Collection/Ovum Pick Up (OPU): |
| After roughly 10 days of ovarian stimulation with drugs and close monitoring by ultrasounds and hormone measurements, a final injection (HCG-Ovidrel) is given to trigger ovulation and the final stage of egg maturation. 36 hours after ovulation is triggered, egg collection will occur. The procedure is done under IV sedation that is usually more than sufficient to control discomfort. In special circumstances, deeper levels of pain control are requested and offered at Astra. Under sterile conditions, a transvaginal ultrasound scan is performed to identify the eggs. Next, a special needle is attached to the tip of the ultrasound probe and is passed through the vaginal wall to reach each ovary. Each follicle is aspirated to retrieve an egg within the follicular fluid that is subsequently examined by the Embryology team. |
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