Often, couples face difficulty in bearing a child. It strikes a fear in their heart, and for situations like this IVF treatment is important. In the past few years, IVF treatment has shown huge advancement in their success rate so parents also feel safe to go through the procedure. In-vitro Fertilization is the process of manually fertilizing an egg with sperm in a controlled environment. This type of treatment is for infertile parents who wish to have a baby. The mature eggs and sperm cells are collected and fertilized together in a petri dish confined within a controlled environment. Once the fertilization process is complete, the fertilized eggs are implanted back in the uterus with the help of a catheter. The IVF process includes 5 major steps which are mentioned below:-
1. Stimulation of the eggs
To start with the procedure, any IVF centerstarts with giving a hormone therapy to its patients. This hormone therapy will first suppress their natural menstrual cycle and then fertility drugs are used to increase the production of eggs. Unlike real-life situations where only one egg is produced a month, these medicines allow the ovaries to produce multiple eggs over the month which will facilitate the procedure a lot.
2. Retrieving the eggs
The next crucial step is to retrieve the egg from the ovary. A minor surgery is performed to procure the egg known as ‘follicular aspiration’ and the egg is then placed within a restricted environment. It has to be ensured that the egg is perfectly fine before it is being put with the sperm.
3. The fertilization process of the egg and the sperm
Once both the sperm and the eggs have been collected, they are placed together within a confined environment. When placed together in a Petri dish, the sperm eventually enters an egg within a few hours of insemination. If required, the sperm might also be directly injected into the egg.
4. Embryo culture
Once the egg fertilizes, it develops into an embryo. An embryo takes 3-5 days to mature and then the cells start to divide further. The laboratory staff keeps a regular check on the embryo to make certain that it is functioning properly.
5. Implanting back the embryo
After around 5 days the fertilized eggs are transmitted back in the woman’s uterus with the help of a catheter. The matured embryos are transferred in the uterus along with some fluids and within a few hours, the patient is discharged from the hospital. After 2 weeks, a pregnancy test is done and if the pregnancy test comes positive the woman is given some progesterone supplements.
