In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) simply means eggs meet sperm in a laboratory petri dish. In order to achieve this, ovaries are stimulated using injectable hormones which result in the growth of multiple eggs. These eggs are extracted through a minor procedure called transvaginal ultrasound guided needle aspiration (egg retrieval). Each egg is then injected with one sperm (ICSI). The resulting fertilized eggs are allowed to grow to the day 5 embryo stage (blastocyst) in our IVF laboratory.

These day 5 stage embryos or blastocysts undergo biopsy which means removal of several cells from each embryo. These cells undergo genetic testing to identify the embryos with a normal chromosome count (PGT-A). The embryos are frozen while waiting for the genetic test results which take several days for the genetics laboratory to complete.  A few weeks later, a single embryo with a normal chromosome count is then injected into the patient’s uterus (embryo transfer). A blood pregnancy test is performed about 10 days after the embryo transfer. We explain each component of IVF such ICSI and Preimplantation Genetic Testing under its own section for more details.