The typical pattern of an IVF treatment
Several difficult and complex steps have to be got through so that you can have your baby: harvesting your eggs; fertilization of the eggs by healthy sperm; implantation of at least one embryo into your uterus; pregnancy to term; and delivery of a healthy baby.
Ensuring a good egg supply for IVF
© DK
So that you have the best chance of a successful pregnancy through in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, more than one egg will be collected and fertilized prior to implantation. Normally a woman only sheds one egg during each ovarian cycle, but with IVF a few days after the end of your period your ovaries will be stimulated with drug treatment such as gonadotrophin releasing factor (GnRH) analogues followed by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), so that your ovaries produce a number of eggs simultaneously.
Over the next week or so, you'll need to go to the fertility clinic every day so that the development of your eggs can be carefully monitored with ultrasound scans. As the eggs mature, the follicles containing them swell and produce increasing amounts of oestrogen. A series of blood tests will detect this increase in oestrogen and the growth of follicles can be precisely measured and tracked by a daily scan.
Collecting the eggs for IVF
When ovulation is imminent, your mature eggs will be collected at your clinic under ultrasonic guidance. Then they're ready for fertilization by your partner's (or donated) sperm.
The egg-retrieval procedure may be carried out under light or even a local anaesthetic, instead of a general anaesthetic. You'll need to spend only a few hours at the fertility clinic for this.
Confirming conception
The harvested eggs are mixed with semen, and 18 hours later they're inspected under a microscope to find out if any have been fertilized. It's uncommon for all the eggs to be fertilized and develop into embryos, but two or three usually do. The fertilized eggs are incubated for 48 hours or more, when they will have divided into about two to four cells. Provided they show no signs of abnormality, a maximum of two embryos are transferred to your uterus. Because of the risks of a multiple pregnancy, however, you may be advised to have only one embryo transferred and you'll need to discuss this with your specialist.
Posted 16.11.2010
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