In vitro fertilisation – the most popular infertility treatment
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is the blessing in disguise for all those couples in the world who would otherwise have been childless that is why its the most widely used infertility treatment.
Standard in vitro fertilisation involves stimulating the production of several eggs, collecting those eggs and mixing them with the partner’s sperm in the laboratory. A high proportion of the eggs are fertilised and embryos are then transferred back into the female partner’s uterus either after 2–3 days or after 5–6 days.
Different countries have different rules on the number of embryos that can be transferred; many are reducing this number to avoid the complication of multiple births
Various IVF options are available:
• Natural cycle IVF: no stimulating hormones are used, just the woman’s natural cycle.
• Mild stimulation IVF: fewer hormones are used than in standard IVF.
• IVF with fresh embryo transfer
• IVF with frozen embryo transfer
• IVF with blastocyst embryo transfer
• IVF with assisted hatching (AH) this is done before transferring the embryo or blastocyst.
