For most infertile couples, IVF tops the list when it comes to treating their infertility issues. IVF has been the fertility treatment for more than a decade, and most of us know the idea about how IVF works. IVF is also well-advertised, so people know more about it than other available infertility options. However, the procedure involves many steps that you don’t know. So, here is a detailed IVF process that will increase your knowledge regarding the same.
The ideal candidate for IVF:
- Aged women having fertility issues
- Women with blocked or damaged fallopian tubes
- Infertility in males due to low sperm count
- Females with endometriosis
Steps involved in IVF
- Superovulation to increase your egg production – In the first step, you are given fertility medicines to stimulate your ovaries to produce eggs. This process is called superovulation. Such drugs contain follicle-stimulating hormones that instruct your body to produce one or more eggs every month.
If you produce more eggs, your chances of getting pregnant increase. Your fertility center may recommend various tests and ultrasounds at this stage to ensure that your ovaries are producing eggs and to check your hormone levels.
- Egg retrieval – You will receive a hormone injection to help your eggs in maturing quickly before your eggs are retrieved from your body.
A minor surgical procedure will be performed to remove eggs from the body called follicular aspiration. The process is done as an outpatient surgery in a fertility center.
During the procedure, a thin needle is inserted, and using am ultrasound guidance, eggs are taken out from the body. To avoid discomfort, your fertility center will give you the medications. According to the IVF center, there may be some cramping which usually disappears in a day or two.
- Sperm collection – After eggs are retrieved, a semen sample will be collected from your partner. You may also choose to have donor sperm. The sperm are then given a high-speed wash and spin cycle to get the healthiest sperm from the sample.
- Fertilization – This is the part where sperm and eggs are combined together. The process is called insemination, which takes a few hours. Your doctor may also directly inject the egg with the sperm; the process is called intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
- Transfer the embryo – In the last part, the embryo is transferred to the uterus of the woman using a catheter. The procedure is done in a fertility center while you are awake. Multiple embryos are transferred so that at least one will get implanted in the uterus.
IVF treatment replicates natural reproduction, so most infertile women get good results after the procedure. However, it’s important to discuss the IVF center in Chennai as IVF treatment cost is usually high. If the treatment is out of your budget, you can try other infertility treatment options.