In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

How Does IVF Work?

IVF takes several months on average to complete one cycle. However, IVF treatments can be repeated multiple times, depending on your condition. Here’s a step-by-step overview of the IVF process.

1. Stimulate Ovulation

   To begin the IVF process, your doctor will prescribe fertility medications. These will stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs that can be retrieved and cryopreserved for future use or donated to a family in need.

2. Retrieve Mature Eggs

   Egg retrieval is a minor surgical procedure that uses an ultrasonic probe to guide a thin needle through the wall of the vagina into the ovary to collect mature eggs. The eggs are then identified under a microscope, washed, and placed in a culture dish with nutrient fluids. This procedure lasts around 15 to 30 minutes and is performed under sedation.

3. Collect and Prepare Semen Samples

   This is usually done on the day of the egg retrieval. Sperm can either be obtained from a male partner or sperm donor. The sperm is “washed,” which separates the actual sperm from the fluids. This increases the number of mobile sperm and improves the likelihood of fertilization.

   Sperm can also be collected before the egg retrieval and cryopreserved until it’s time.

4. Fertilize and Develop the Embryo(s)

   There are two ways to go about fertilization in vitro: the traditional method and the ICSI method. In traditional IVF, the sperm and egg are placed on the petri dish together and fertilize on their own. With ICSI, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection, the doctor can fertilize an egg with a single sperm via a thin glass needle.

   12 to 16 hours after, the samples are examined to confirm that fertilization has taken place. They are then cultured for three to five days in the lab to ensure they’re healthy before being transferred to the uterus or cryopreserved.

5. Transfer the Embryo

   Transferring the embryo is the final and most important step in the IVF process. This procedure mimics that of a routine pap smear and causes very little pain or discomfort. For best results, the use of ultrasound technology is used to guide the catheter.

   While some fertility clinics transfer multiple embryos, which can result in multiple pregnancies and births, Tennessee Fertility Institute follows the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) guidelines and typically transfers one or two embryos at a time.

6. Await the Results of a Blood Test

   You or the patient will typically get blood drawn for a pregnancy test nine to 11 days after the transfer. If embryo implantation has occurred, the hCG hormone will be detected in the bloodstream and the woman will be considered pregnant!

7. Freeze the Remaining Embryos

   During the IVF process, more embryos can develop than are used or transferred. In this case, there is the option to freeze any excess good-quality embryos for future IVF attempts. Embryos can be frozen at the pronuclear stage (one cell), or at any stage after that up to and including the blastocyst stage (five to seven days after fertilization).

   Vitrification is the newest technology in cryopreservation. This ultra-rapid freezing technique minimizes any ice crystal formation and potential damage to frozen embryo(s).