IVF for women

The concept of in vitro fertilization is to optimize human reproduction by making it more efficient. IVF takes many eggs and, during a 3-5 day culture process, the eggs are fertilized.  One or more of the fertilized eggs is then transferred into the uterus. By removing the eggs from the ovaries, fertilizing them outside of the body, and then transferring the embryo or embryos back into the womb, the net effect is that of compressing many months of attempting to conceive into one.

The general layout

Step 1: suppressing the natural menstrual cycle

Can make the medicines used in the next stage of treatment more effective and continue this for about 2 weeks.

Step 2: boosting egg supply

Once your menstrual cycle is suppressed you take an FSH fertility hormone (follicle stimulating hormone). This increases the number of eggs you produce, so more eggs can be collected and fertilized.

Step 3: checking progress

You'll have vaginal ultrasounds to monitor your ovaries and, in some cases, blood tests. About 36 hours before your eggs are to be collected you will get one more hormone injection to help the eggs mature.

Step 4: collecting the eggs

You'll be sedated and your eggs will be collected using a needle that's passed through the vagina and into each ovary under ultrasound guidance, takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Some women may experience cramps or a small amount of vaginal bleeding after this procedure.

Step 5: fertilizing the eggs

The collected eggs are mixed with your partner's or the donor's sperm in a lab. After 16 to 20 hours, they are checked to see if any have been fertilised. In some cases, each egg may need to be injected individually with a single sperm, this is called intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection or ICSI. They may continue to grow in the lab for 6 days before the best one or two are chosen for implantation.

Step 6: egg transfer

This is done using a thin tube called a catheter that's passed into the vagina. This is a simpler procedure so you do not need to be sedated

*If any suitable embryos are left over, they may be frozen for future IVF attempts*

Thank you for reading :) hope this cleared up some misconceptions. Written by Meghana

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeigYib39Rs

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ivf/ 

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