What does IVF Process entail?????

I have been considering what IVF actually requires and what the process includes...What drugs will be given to me if I opted for it...Below is some information that I came across that summarizes the IVF process...


***********************************************************************

The IVF process involves:

The process of invitro fertilization - how is IVF done?

Basic screening tests are performed on both partners at all IVF clinics
  • Prior to starting IVF process, some testing of "ovarian reserve" should be done on the female prior to starting the injections.
  • The day 3 FSH and AMH blood testing as well as antral follicle counts is used for this purpose.
  • These tests help predict how well the ovaries will respond to the drugs (making sufficient follicles and eggs).
  • The number of follicles that develop when we stimulate the woman correlates with the number of eggs we get at the egg pickup (aspiration or retrieval) procedure.
  • The number of eggs retrieved correlates with IVF success rates

Consents are signed by all parties
The woman is stimulated with injected medications to develop multiple follicles in the ovaries. Each follicle contains a microscopic egg. These injections continue to stimulate follicle and egg growth and development for about 8 - 10 days.
  • Details about ovarian stimulation protocols for in-vitro fertilization
  • Details about the subcutaneous injectable medications
  • Sample in vitro fertilization calendar of a "typical" cycle that shows the days medications are given, office visits, etc.
Blood and ultrasound testing is done every 1-3 days to monitor the development of the follicles (egg-containing structures) in the ovaries.
A minimum number of 3 follicles is needed to develop to maturity in order to be able to proceed with the egg retrieval. About 90-95% of women under 40 with a normal FSH and normal antral follicle counts will develop at least this minimum number of follicles.
If this many mature follicles can not be obtained from the stimulation process - the IVF procedure will usually be  "cancelled"(not proceed with egg retrieval). Criteria for cancellation can vary between IVF centers.

When a sufficient number of the woman's follicles are mature, a transvaginal ultrasound-guided egg retrieval (egg aspiration) procedure is performed to remove the eggs from the follicles. Usually, the average duration of the egg retrieval procedure is under 10 minutes, with a range of about 2-15 minutes. Powerful anesthesia medications are used so that the woman is "out" during this procedure and does not feel or remember anything.

The eggs are then fertilized in the laboratory with her partner's sperm. If the sperm (or the eggs) are of poor quality, the ICSI procedure might be used to aid in fertilization. The embryos are cultured in the IVF laboratory for 2-6 days.
The embryo transfer procedure is done which places the embryos in the woman's uterus where they will hopefully implant and develop to result in a live birth. This is like a Pap smear for the woman. There should be no discomfort.
If there are leftover embryos (of sufficient quality) beyond the number that is transferred, many couples prefer to have them frozen (cryopreserved) for use in a future cycle. Embryo cryopreservation can be used for another attempt at having a baby if the "fresh" cycle fails - or as an attempt to have another child if the fresh cycle is successful.

**************************************

Culled from "http://www.advancedfertility.com/ivfprocedures.htm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over 40s 'have more babies' than under 20s

Image
Women over 40 are having more babies than the under 20s for the first time in nearly 70 years, official figures for England and Wales show. The Office for National Statistics data showed there were 697,852 live births in 2015. There were 15.2 births per 1,000 women aged over 40, compared with just 14.5 per 1,000 women in their teens. The last time the over 40s had the higher fertility rate was in 1947, in the wake of WWII. The figures show two key trends in who is having children and when in England and Wales. The teenage pregnancy rate has been in long-term decline and has more than halved from the 33 births per 1,000 teenagers in 1990. Meanwhile, pregnancies have soared in older age groups from 5.3 per 1,000 in 1990. The average age of having a child is now 30.3 - a figure that has been increasing since 1975. Advances in fertility treatment as well as more wo
Read more
Image
What is an Ectopic Pregnancy? If a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, it's called an ectopic pregnancy. There's no way to transplant an ectopic pregnancy into your uterus, so ending the pregnancy is the only option. This means the egg will not develop into a baby, which can be devastating to the pregnant woman. While there are some risk factors, an ectopic pregnancy can happen to anyone. And, because it's potentially dangerous for you, it's important to recognize the early signs and get treatment as soon as possible. Occasionally, an ectopic pregnancy doesn't cause any noticeable symptoms and is only detected during routine pregnancy testing. However, most women do have symptoms, and these usually become apparent between week 5 and week 14 of pregnancy. They include: abnormal vaginal bleeding abdominal pain, typically just in one side, which can range from mild to severe an absent period (amenorrhoea), and other symptoms of pregnan
Read more

Concern Zika causes baby eye problems

Image
Scientists studying the Zika outbreak in Brazil are becoming increasingly concerned the virus may cause eye damage in babies. Stanford University researchers found abnormal bleeding and lesions in the eyes of three infant boys whose mothers had caught Zika while pregnant. They want any babies known to be affected by Zika to have eye checks. The journal of Ophthalmology findings follow another recent study that saw similar eye problems in Zika babies. The disease is already known to cause a serious baby brain defect called microcephaly. What is not clear is whether eye problems might be a complication of this rather than the Zika infection itself. Either is possible. All of the three infants the researchers from Stanford and the University of Sao Paulo examined also had microcephaly.
Read more