IVF/ICSI

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In Vitro fertilisation (IVF)

IVF remains the mainstay of fertility treatment in women where other treatment modalities have failed. It is indicated in -

1. Women with damaged or blocked fallopian tubes
2. Ovulation disorders
3. Women with endometriosis
4. Unexplained infertility
5. Women with diminished ovarian reserve
6. Women requiring donor eggs
7. Poor quality sperm in terms of low sperm count and decreased motility and morphology

The complete process of IVF involves a number of steps-

1. Controlled ovarian stimulation - you will be given daily hormone injections to stimulate your ovaries in order to have multiple follicles in which eggs develop. Serial ultrasound scans will be done to monitor the growth of the follicles along with hormonal evaluation. The follicles grow in size and when they reach the ideal size ready to release the mature eggs, final injection is given to start your ovulation process. Before these follicles rupture, we will collect the eggs through a simple procedure.
2. Egg collection procedure- The procedure is painless as it is done under sedation given by an anaesthetist. The follicles are aspirated under ultrasound guidance after which eggs are collected from follicular fluid by an embryologist under the microscope. These eggs are then quickly transferred to an incubator which has a natural environment suitable for the eggs. The egg collection procedure usually lasts 15-20 minutes. Your partner will accompany you to the clinic as the semen sample is collected on the same day of egg collection. If a frozen semen sample or donor sample is to be used, the samples will be thawed on the same day. The sperms and eggs are then mixed in the laboratory under optimal conditions. The embryos develop which are then transferred into your body on 3 or 5 days after egg collection.
3. Embryo Transfer- This procedure is painless and is performed without anaesthesia. In young women with good quality embryos, usually one embryo is transferred on day 5 which is referred to as blastocyst. In elderly women, we may recommend to transfer more than one embryo depending on the quality of embryos. This procedure usually takes a few minutes. The progesterone medication is started following the egg collection to make the uterus receptive and is continued during the luteal phase after which pregnancy test is performed. If the test is positive, these medications are continued till 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Intra cytoplasmic sperm Injection (ICSI)

This procedure is a specialised technique used in cases of male infertility when the quality of the sperm is affected. In this technique, instead of mixing sperms with eggs , a single sperm is injected directly into the egg under the microscope to facilitate fertilisation. This is followed by the usual stages of embryo development in the laboratory and the transfer into the uterine cavity.

Your Next Step

You can contact us and book an appointment with our fertility expert at a convenient time. You can do this by filling the form or by calling on the numbers provided for online or face to face consultation.