Posts Tagged ‘fertility treatments’
An Explanation Of The IVF Procedure
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a method of assisted reproduction that offers couples who are infertile a chance to have a child that is biologically related to them. More than 200,000 babies have been brought into the world using the IVF procedure and it is now a fully established way of treating infertility.
With IVF, a man’s sperm and the woman’s egg are brought together by an IVF specialist in a laboratory dish, where fertilization occurs. The embryo which forms is then put into the woman’s uterus (womb) and left to naturally develop. Typically, 2-4 embryos are put in the woman’s uterus at one time. Each attempt is called a cycle, and the cost of IVF per cycle is approximately ten thousands dollars.
So, what exactly is involved in each cycle? Here is a more detailed explanation…
The woman will be given certain drugs (hormones) in order to induce her ovaries to produce several eggs. A surgeon will then insert a needle through the vagina into the woman’s ovary to remove the eggs. General anesthesia is not necessary when the surgeon does this, but the woman may be administered some sedating medication. At the same time, a semen sample is taken from the man. He will be asked not to have sex for a few days prior to the eggs being taken from the woman. The sperm are separated from the semen in a laboratory procedure.
Next, the sperm are combined in a laboratory dish with the eggs taken from the woman. About 20 hours after this fertilization procedure, the laboratory dish is examined to find out if the egg or eggs have been fertilized and if embryos have grown as a result. Should this have happened, they are incubated and observed over the next 2-7 days. After that time, the embryos will be transferred back to the woman through the cervix with a catheter (a long slender tube). She is then given certain hormones for the following 10-14 days. If the implantation works (the egg or eggs attach to the uterine wall and grow), a pregnancy test will give a positive result.
Now Try : The Cost Of IVF