Details
IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilization. In Vitro "in
glass" in Latin, that is, fertilization of eggs and sperm occurs in a
laboratory environment outside the body. IVF provides the ideal conditions for
successful fertilization and growth of healthy embryos when natural pregnancy
cannot be carried out for some reason. IVF is not a single procedure; it is a
period with several different steps that take place over a cycle. IVF, which
has become one of the greatest medical options of our age by mediating thousands
of successful results for couples who want to have a baby, is a procedure that
aims to manage one of the most personal and emotional processes in the world in
a sensitive and professional way.
IVF with ICSI (Intracytoplasmic sperm injection) is a
specialized form of IVF treatment that is used in cases of severe male
infertility or after repeated failed fertilization attempts with conventional
IVF.
Who Is This For?
- Couples who are in overall good
health and haven’t been able to get pregnant on their own after 6 months
- Women who have been unsuccessful
with other fertility treatments
- Men suffering from infertility,
have low sperm count or poor sperm motility/morphology
Treatment Duration
6 to 8 weeks
Potential Risks
& Side Effects
- Nausea and vomiting
- Severe stomach aches
- Decreased urinary frequency
- Shortness of breath
- Allergic reactions
- Vaginal bleeding
- Bloating
- Breast tenderness
- Constipation
- Mood swings
- Fatigue
- Multiple births
- Premature delivery and low birth
weight
- Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome
- Miscarriage
- Gestational diabetes
- High blood pressure
Recovery Time
Recovery after egg retrieval process of IVF with ICSI
takes about 30 minutes and women may walk out on your own immediately after the
procedure.
Success Rate: 50-80%
Alternative
Treatments
- Ovulation Induction
- Artificial Insemination
- Surgery
How Does it Work?
1.
Preparation
Before starting the IVF cycle, you and your partner
should first avoid stress and anxiety. In addition to this, the preparation
process includes:
- You both should stop Smoking
- You should take the vitamins
recommended by the doctor
- You should make
fertility-enhancing healthy diet
- You should avoid red meat, sugar,
refined grains and other highly processed foods
- You should sleep regularly and
efficiently
- Doing breathing exercises
2.
Procedure
Steps
There are 5 main steps in an IVF procedure. These are
ovulation induction, egg retrieval, sperm retrieval, fertilization and embryo
transfer. To make you understand, here’s a detailed discussion around each
step:
- Ovulation induction: At the first stage, if you are using your own eggs for
their IVF procedure, your doctor will prescribe fertility medications to help
the ovaries make more eggs and you should start to use them.
- Egg retrieval: Once your eggs are ready for retrieval after one to two
weeks of ovarian stimulation, your
doctor will perform blood tests and a vaginal ultrasound to determine if
the eggs are mature to collect. The most common method for retrieval is
transvaginal ultrasound aspiration, which uses a device inserted into the
vagina to identify the follicles and collect the eggs. To provide the comfort,
sedation and pain medication may be used at this stage.
- Sperm retrieval: If you are using sperm from your partner, he is being
asked to give a semen sample. After it is received, the sperm are removed from
the seminal fluid to be used in fertilization.
- Fertilization: Then the fertilization may begin. Your doctor will mix
the healthy and mature eggs with healthy sperm in the laboratory. In IVF with
ICSI procedure, fertilization is performed by using Intracytoplasmic sperm
injection (ICSI).
- Embryo transfer: The last stage of the IVF procedure is embryo transfer.
This process is conducted within six days after the eggs have been retrieval.
During the embryo transfer, your doctor will insert a flexible catheter into
your vagina, through the cervix and into the uterus. Then, the doctor will
implant one or more of the embryos through the catheter. If the procedure is
successful, the embryo will implant in the lining of the uterus within ten days
after the eggs have been collected. And congratulations, you are pregnant now!
What Should I
Expect from IVF Procedure
- If the first IVF cycle won’t be
successful, then you can always undergo a second one.
- You may consider egg freezing for
future use.
- You may feel minor cramping and
discomfort during the implantation stage.
- The side effects are usually mild,
but can include constipation, breast tenderness, hot flashes, weight gain,
nausea, and headaches.
- You can experience psychological
side effects during IVF process. The hormones used to stimulate egg production
can cause mood swings and depression.
- Make sure that you have someone
who can support you during your journey.
FAQ
Are IVF Injections
Painful?
For most patients, injections do not hurt, but they are
not welcome, they are fast and do not cause problems because their discomfort
ends within a few seconds.
Are Women Awake
During Embryo Transfer?
Women are awake during embryo transfer which takes
approximately 15 minutes and they are able to watch the procedure on the
ultrasound monitor.
What Is The
Different Between ICSI and IVF?
The only difference between IVF and ICSI is observed in
the fertilization stage. In conventional IVF, the egg and sperm are left in a
petri dish to fertilize on their own. In ICSI, one sperm is directly injected
into the egg.