Techniques of In Vitro Fertilization

In Vitro fertilization is the proper medical name for what the press dubbed ‘test tube babies' many years ago. Eggs are fertilized in a laboratory dish with sperm and then place inside the woman's womb. In Vitro Fertilization may be recommended for a number of reasons including; age, other techniques have failed, the woman's tubes are blocked or the infertility cannot be explained.

Techniques of In Vitro Fertilization differ from clinic to clinic but a typical pattern of treatment might go like this: The first thing your doctor will do is to stop the hormones released by the pituitary gland during your period by the use of other drugs. This allows them better control over when your eggs are produced. You then take different drugs to make your ovaries produce more than one egg.

To monitor your developing eggs, vaginal ultrasound scans are taken as well as blood tests to ensure that the eggs are increasing the estrogen level. Once the time is right, another hormone will be injected to help the eggs mature. The timing for this injection is crucial and must be carried out no earlier that 34 or later than 38 hours before your eggs are collected. Ultrasound guidance is used to help collect the egg but it means you have to be given drugs or a general anesthetic to help you relax because it takes about 30 minutes.

Around the time the woman's eggs are collected, the male produces a fresh sample of sperm. The health of the sperm is important so after a short storage period they are spun at high speed after being washed so only the healthiest and most active are used. Donated sperm is kept in the freezer but the same method to prepare it is used. Once that has been completed the sperm is mixed with the eggs in a dish and left for between 16 to 20 hours and then checked to see if they have been fertilized. Any that haven't, or any that have fertilized abnormally, are discarded and the remaining embryos are then left for another 24-48 hours before being checked again.

In order to help prepare your womb, pessaries, gel or an injection are given two days after your eggs have been collected. Once the eggs have fertilized one or two will be inserted into the womb through the cervix using a catheter between tow and five days after fertilization. Any unused embryos may be frozen for future use, providing they are ok.

It is often thought that In Vitro Fertilization has a high failure rate, but the overall success rate for conception is about the same as in nature and sometimes better. The chances of a miscarriage early on though are slightly higher than they would be by natural conception. Female fertility diminishes with age, so if you are using your own eggs, the younger you are, the higher your chances of success. To illustrate this point, after the age of 40 only one in ten women will have a child after In Vitro Fertilization treatment but if the woman is under 30 then this figure rises to one in four.

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