Many infertile couples today have used the in vitro fertilization technique to give birth to healthy and normal children. This artificial fertilization method requires the help of a medical team who begins by taking a medical history of the couple. After that, if the man’s sperm can fertilize, the woman’s eggs are healthy and her uterus can carry a normal pregnancy, the procedure begins. The woman is given certain hormones, drugs which will help her body produce several healthy eggs. The healthy eggs will then be removed by a specially trained surgeon who inserts a needle into the woman’s ovary, through the vagina. The woman can also be given sedatives, although it is not necessary. The eggs are then carefully examined to make sure that they are healthy. The man is then asked to provide a semen sample, after being abstinent for a couple of days, from which the sperm is separated in a special laboratory procedure. The sperm will be used to fertilize the woman’s eggs.
The in vitro fertilization technique is used to fertilize the woman’s eggs with the male’s sperm outside the body, in a special container. The process that normally takes places in the fallopian tubes now takes place in an artificial medium. This is where the term in vitro comes from, in latin meaning in glass. After the eggs are fertilized they become to grow as embryos, and are kept under special observation. After 3 or even more days of observation, depending on the evolution of the embryos, the placing of the embryos in the woman’s uterus can begin. The doctor transfers the embryos into the uterus through the cervix with a catheter.
For the pregnancy to follow its normal course, the in vitro fertilization requires that the woman takes special medicine, certain hormones that will help the eggs grow. The pregnancy is carefully monitored by special doctors who later on help the women give birth.
The in vitro fertilization pregnancies have the same miscarriage rate as normally conceived pregnancies. In 3-5% of the cases the embryo grows outside the uterus, and is called an ectopic pregnancy. It is very important that the woman is offered emergency medical care for her to survive. The embryo does not survive in this case and the pregnancy fails. With small exceptions the IFV is a safe procedure, women being able to give birth to normal and healthy children.