Louise Brown made history in 1978 as the world's first 'test-tube baby'. Today, IVF is a household term, and we have made tremendous progress in this challenging yet fulfilling specialty since then. Our very own Dr. is one of the pioneers of IVF in India with over 25 years of experience. Little wonder then, that IVF at the Expert Fertility Care offers your best chance of conception, with a success rate of over 65%!
IVF is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus. It is recommended for couples with infertility issues such as:
Blocked or damaged fallopian tubes
Male factor infertility which includes decreased sperm count or sperm motility
Ovulation disorders such as premature ovarian failure
Endometriosis
Uterine fibroids
A history of genetic disorders
Unexplained infertility
IVF involves several steps. One cycle of IVF takes around 4 - 6 weeks to complete, and can take about two weeks to do as it involves inducing ovulation, retrieving the egg and sperm, fertilization, and then transferring the embryo into your womb.
"At the Expert Fertility Care, each IVF cycle is individually tailored to optimize your outcome. And we are continuously refining our protocols to improve your chances for pregnancy manifold." – Dr. Expert
Once you have decided to proceed with IVF, we prepare you for the process by first evaluating you to ensure that you are healthy and free from any infection. We also study your uterine cavity via an ultrasound.
If you're using your own eggs, your IVF treatment will begin with medications to stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple eggs rather than the single egg that develops every month. This is because every fertilized egg ultimately results in a baby, and so a surplus of oocytes increases your overall chance of success.
During this step, we also visualise your ovarian follicles through an ultrasound and do a hormonal assay to check on your hormone levels.
Egg retrieval is a minimally invasive outpatient surgical procedure that is done 34 to 36 hours after your final dose of stimulation medication and before ovulation. With an ultrasound to guide, a thin needle is inserted to aspirate fluid from the mature ovarian follicles. This fluid is passed to the embryologist who examines it for the presence of an egg.
The eggs are removed from the follicles and the mature eggs are placed in a nutritive liquid and incubated.
If you are using your partner’s sperm, he will also provide semen on the same day that your eggs are retrieved. Sperm can also be extracted through testicular aspiration. The sperm are separated from the semen in the lab.
Fertilisation is done on the same day as retrieval of the egg and sperm, and is accomplished in one of two ways:
Conventional insemination, where healthy sperm and mature eggs are mixed and incubated overnight
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), where a single healthy sperm is injected directly into each mature egg.
On the morning after the retrieval, your eggs will be evaluated for fertilization. These single cells are now referred to as zygotes. By the second day after retrieval the cells is now called a pre-embryo and consists of 2 to 4 cells.
To prepare your uterus for embryo implantation, you will be started on progesterone medication on the day of or after egg retrieval. You will be asked to continue the course on a daily basis until the pregnancy is well into the first trimester.
To prepare your uterus for embryo implantation, you will be started on progesterone medication on the day of or after egg retrieval. You will be asked to continue the course on a daily basis until the pregnancy is well into the first trimester.
We test for pregnancy 14 - 15 days after the embryo transfer. HCG levels are monitored frequently during the first two weeks of pregnancy, after which we continue to monitor your baby’s development using ultrasound. By the 6th week of pregnancy, you can see your baby’s heartbeat.
With Expert Fertility Care, you can remain assured that you are in the best hands under our team led by our Expert Dr., our lead fertility consultant, along with our team of embryologists and staff. Close monitoring and customised protocols have helped many couples to realise their dream of becoming parents through IVF, to date.