In Vitro Fertilization - An Overview!

IVF or In Vitro Fertilization is a very common treatment for infertility. This process of fertilization involves, extracting eggs, retrieve a sperm sample and then get the egg and sperm combined manually in a laboratory dish. The embryo then gets transferred to the uterus. It is an artificial way to conceive and applicable for couples who cannot have children conventionally.

Problems Which Lead To In Vitro Fertilization

Now we will have a look at the problems which ultimately force couples to go for IVF and conceive children through artificial procedures:

• Infertility Issues in Female:

Generally for women, they produce the egg and then it’s about moving it to the uterus where the sperm can fertilize it. When everything goes well, the fertilized egg goes on to become an embryo and then it gets implanted on the wall of the uterus and grows accordingly. Any deviation from this normal process can lead to infertility.

One of the most common causes of infertility among females is Endometriosis. Endometriosis causes scar tissue which results in the blockage of fallopian tubes. In some other cases, there may not be any blockage in the fallopian tubes but there might be difficulty in moving the egg along to the uterus where the fertilization can take place. In such a situation, IVF helps to the get the eggs extracted directly from the ovaries, fertilize them in the lab, hence avoid the problems of the fallopian tubes.

• Problems With Ovulation Can Be Another Cause Of Infertility:

Ovulation problems generally occur for women who are aged 35 years or over and can have issues in producing good quality eggs. This is where IVF can come into play. It can get the woman’s ovaries stimulated by fertility drugs, help produce a number of eggs and then allow them to be fertilized in the laboratory. In Vitro Fertilization helps in giving greater control, when there is a possibility of multiple births, rather than using only the fertility drugs. IVF makes sure to use donor eggs from a donor younger woman, which in turn largely improves the possibility of a woman, who is 40 years old or more than that, to get pregnant.

• Infertility Issues Among Males:

For males, it is about producing healthy sperm and get them inside a woman’s uterus, so that there is a chance of an egg fertilization. Now, infertility problems arise, if anything goes wrong with this particular process. One of the main problems could be, low sperm count, which fails to penetrate the egg, while other issues could be, sperm is unable to survive in the uterus’s mucus, problem with intercourse, tube blockage. Males can get rid of these problems through IVF treatment, where the sperm could get extracted from the testicles, avoiding the blockages and hence used for fertilization of eggs in the lab.

So, this segment has talked of what IVF is all about and what kind of problems among males and females could lead to IVF treatment. In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!