44 years back in July 1978, Louis Brown, the first IVF baby was born. It was described by the Time magazine as the most awaited birth in 2000 years. This gave hope to millions of childless couples. And since then almost 8 million babies have been born through some kind of artificial reproductive technology including IVF.
Children born through IVF procedure are jokingly referred to as test tube baby. It is a procedure in which the egg and the sperm are combined outside the body. The egg is fertilized outside the body and the fertilized egg later is then implanted in the uterus.
Any biological process which is happening outside the body is called in vitro and anyone which is happening inside the body is called in vivo. Hence the term in vitro fertilization as full meaning of IVF.
Indications or Reasons for IVF Procedure
1. Infertility due to tubal factor
Infertility secondary to tubal factor means problems are in the fallopian tubes. So obviously in case the tubes are bad or they are blocked because of some previous infections, maybe previous surgeries or endometriosis, the fertilization will not be possible and obviously the IVF is needed.
2. Infertility due to male factor
Second reason is the male factor which means in case the semen count, the sperm concentration is low, the mortality of the sperms is low or the sperms are abnormal and the IUI has failed, obviously now the next option is IVF.
3. Infertility secondary to ovulation disorders
The third is ovulation disorders which means in case the ovulation is not happening, it's happening irregularly or it is absent severe cases of polycystic ovary. Then of course in IVF we have a controlled and a programmed ovulation making pregnancy rates better.
4. Unexplained Infertility
Then unexplained infertility which means everything is fine but still the pregnancy is not happening, IUIs have been tried, multiple treatments have been tried. So the next option you can consider is IVF.
5. After Fertility Preservation
In case somebody has undergone a fertility preservation or a egg freezing because unfortunately they were diagnosed with some kind of a cancer which required chemotherapy or a radiotherapy.
6. After Egg Freezing
Next indication is post egg freezing. We will speak about egg freezing in detail later, so please subscribe and stay tuned. In case egg freezing was done because of some social reasons like career, academics or there was a history of premature menopause. So after egg freezing the pregnancy will be possible only through IVF.
7. For Surrogate Mothers
In case there is a problem in the mother's uterus or the pregnancy poses a serious health risk to the mother. So in that case mother's eggs are removed, they are fertilized by the father's sperms outside and now the fertilized egg or the embryo is deposited in somebody else's uterus. This is known as surrogacy. So there also pregnancy will be possible only through an IVF.
What are Stages for Successful IVF Procedure?
Now let's understand how IVF is being done. IVF has practically six steps as follows;
- Counseling
- Ovarian stimulation
- Ovum pickup
- Semen collection
- Fertilization and the embryo transfer
- Post transfer care
Let's talk about each one of them in detail. The first is the counseling, all infertility treatments including IVF are mentally, physically and emotionally very taxing. So make sure that you have spoken to your doctor.
Second is the ovarian stimulation, the ovaries are stimulated with fertility drugs known as gonadotrophins to make multiple eggs mature in the ovary.
Then the next step is the ovum retrieval or it is commonly known as the ovum pickup. So for this usually the patient is admitted to the hospital. It is done under anesthesia.
An ultrasound probe is inserted into the vagina to locate those developing follicles. A needle is then finally guided under the ultrasound guidance to reach the follicles and the eggs are sucked out. They are aspirated out and immediately they are sent to the laboratory.
The next step is the semen collection, at that very time the partner or the husband is asked to give his fresh semen. Then the egg and the sperm are combined outside in a laboratory.
The semen sample can also be a frozen sample in case there is severe paucity of the number of the sperms. The sperms can be extracted surgically also and in case in such cases we do a procedure which is known as IVF ICSI. ICSI stands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection which means a single sperm is actually picked up and put inside the egg.
After that once the fertilization happens the fertilized egg is then monitored for its growth typically on day three or day five. Now the fertilized egg also known as the embryo is now deposited back into the uterus. This is known as the embryo transfer.
Post transfer usually a very basic care is advised. This means that you may be expected to have a little bit of soreness a little bit of heaviness in your abdomen. You might have little cramping or little spotting.
You might be given certain medications to support the pregnancy and typically two weeks later the doctor orders a test which is known as beta HCG to confirm the pregnancy.
What is the Success Rate of Getting Pregnancy After IVF?
The most important question what is the success rate for the IVF. The IVF success rate depends upon:
- The age of the partners both mother and the father
- The reason for the infertility
- Whether the self egg or the sperm was used or was that a donor egg or donor sperm.
- Whether it was the fresh egg and the fresh sperm or it was a frozen egg or the frozen sperm
- And also where the procedure happened.
In most of the cases in age less than 35 years most of the good centers they claim a success rate of 40 to 50 percent. So it is very important to seek the treatment from the right sources get a right diagnosis made be scientific in your approach to get the best pregnancy rates.
Conclusion
I know IVF is a very big topic in today's post we have just covered the basics. So if you have questions about IVF I'll be very very happy to answer them.
Please leave your questions in the comments below. For more information you can also subscribe to this blog. You can also share your fertility journey with us by writing a blog post on our website. We will be very very happy to share that with our readers.
We also do e-consultations through our website so please click on chat with us. Take care and today like always if you found this information useful please do not forget to share them with your love ones.
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