After a thorough physical examination and
personal history, your doctor may determine that basic infertility treatments,
such as surgery, insemination and/or ovulation induction are not appropriate
for you. These infertility therapies may have been unsuccessful, or age considerations may
suggest it's time for alternatives if you want to conceive. In these cases,
your treatment plan may include assisted
reproductive technology (ART).
ART relies on sophisticated laboratory-based
techniques for cases requiring advanced treatments to produce pregnancy. IRMS
performs approximately 1,000 ART cycles per year and achieves pregnancy
rates amongst the highest in the world. The most common ART procedure is in
vitro fertilization (IVF).
Like ovulation induction, in vitro
fertilization (IVF) uses medications to suppress a women’s natural menstrual
cycle and stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple follicles that will
contain many eggs. In what is called a "fresh cycle," the eggs are
retrieved and transferred to the laboratory. They are placed, along with
sperm, in a special culture medium that encourages fertilization and growth of
high-quality embryos.
Sperm from the male is collected on the day
of oocyte retrieval, except in cases where donor or previously frozen sperm is
used. In cases of male factor infertility caused by conditions such as
azoospermia (lack of sperm), tubal blockage and genetic anomalies, sperm is
not available in the seminal fluid and surgical
techniques may be required to extract it from the surrounding tissue. In
any case, the sperm is washed to remove impurities before it is added to the
medium, where fertilization of the eggs can occur in just a few hours.
Following fertilization, the egg becomes a
zygote, which includes the nuclei from both the egg and sperm. When it has
developed into a 6-to-8-celled embryo, usually on Day 3, it will be
transferred back into the uterus. A limited number of high quality embryos are
chosen for transfer, while others will be cryopreserved, or frozen, for future
use in a "frozen embryo transfer" (FET). During this type of IVF
cycle, frozen embryos are thawed and transferred into the uterus, eliminating
the need for ovarian stimulation as required in a fresh cycle.
Another variation of IVF, egg donation, where
a "donor cycle" is required if the woman is not able to produce her own eggs, or
their quality will not support fertilization, implantation and pregnancy. In an
egg donation cycle, the eggs are retrieved from an egg donor, a young woman who has undergone
ovarian stimulation. They are fertilized with sperm from the husband of the
recipient couple or an egg donor, and the resulting embryos are transferred to the
recipient female, whose body has been prepared for implantation and pregnancy.
Although IVF alone is highly effective for
many couples, others may require additional procedures to assist
fertilization, implantation, and sustained pregnancy. Click
here to find out more information about Additional laboratory services
performed at IRMS
