What is IVF

Embarking on a fertility journey can feel overwhelming, but you are not alone. At Ferty9 Fertility Center, we are dedicated to guiding you with expertise, compassion, and personalised care every step of the way. This page provides a complete overview of the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) process, helping you understand how this advanced treatment can help you achieve your dream of parenthood.

What is IVF?

IVF, or In Vitro Fertilization, is one of the most well-known and effective forms of assisted reproductive technology (ART). The term “in vitro” is Latin for “in glass.” In the simplest terms, IVF is the process where the fertilization of an egg by a sperm happens outside the body, in a highly controlled and sterile environment within a laboratory dish.

You may have heard of it referred to by the historical term “test tube baby.” While this phrase helped the world understand the basic concept when it was first introduced, today’s IVF is a highly sophisticated and precise medical science. Once fertilization occurs and a healthy embryo develops over several days in our advanced laboratory, it is carefully transferred into the woman’s uterus, where it can implant and grow, leading to a pregnancy. The core principle of IVF is to bypass many of the natural barriers that can prevent conception, giving hope to millions.

Dr. Sneha explains about IVF Treatment

At Ferty9 Fertility Center, we understand that every couple’s journey is unique, and IVF offers hope where other treatments may not be suitable.

A Legacy of Hope: More Than Four Decades of Success

The first successful IVF birth in 1978 was a medical miracle that changed the world. Since then, technology has evolved tremendously. What was once an experimental procedure is now a safe, reliable, and common medical treatment. At Ferty9, we practice the most modern and refined forms of IVF, using technology and protocols that have been perfected over decades to give you the highest possible chance of success.

Why IVF Is So Effective: The Science Behind Higher Success Rates

The primary reason for IVF’s high success rate is the unparalleled level of control it provides over the conception process. In a natural cycle, many critical steps are left to chance inside the body. IVF allows our team of specialists to manage and optimize each stage:

• Controlled Ovarian Stimulation: We can safely stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs in one cycle, instead of the single egg that is typical, immediately increasing the number of opportunities for success.
• Guaranteed Ovulation and Retrieval: We do not have to guess when ovulation will happen. We control the final maturation of the eggs and retrieve them at the perfect moment.
• Direct Observation of Fertilization: We can confirm that fertilization has successfully occurred in the lab, something that is impossible to know with natural conception or IUI.
• Optimal Embryo Development: We provide the ideal environment for embryos to grow in our state-of-the-art incubators, monitoring them as they develop to the strongest stage (blastocyst) before transfer.
• Selection of the Healthiest Embryo: Our skilled embryologists can identify the best-quality embryos for transfer, significantly increasing the chances of implantation.

How is IVF Different from IUI?

This is a very common and important question. While both are fertility treatments, they are fundamentally different.

Different Approaches to IVF

“IVF” is an umbrella term for several highly specialized techniques. Based on your specific diagnosis, your doctor at Ferty9 will recommend the best approach for you:

• Conventional IVF: The retrieved eggs are placed in a dish with thousands of sperm, and fertilization is allowed to happen naturally in the controlled lab environment.
• IVF with ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection): This is the most common method used today. It involves selecting a single, healthy sperm and carefully injecting it directly into the center of each egg. It is the gold standard for treating male factor infertility.
• Minimal Stimulation IVF (Mini-IVF): This approach uses lower doses of fertility medications, resulting in the retrieval of fewer eggs. It is an option for specific patient profiles.
• Natural Cycle IVF: This involves retrieving the single egg that is naturally produced by the body during a normal menstrual cycle without the use of stimulation drugs.

In essence, IVF is not just a single procedure but a powerful platform of technologies designed to overcome a wide array of fertility obstacles, offering a clear and effective path to building your family.

Who Needs IVF Treatment?

IVF is a versatile and highly effective treatment that has brought hope to millions. It is often the most successful path to parenthood for individuals and couples facing a wide range of fertility challenges. Your specialist at Ferty9 may recommend IVF as the primary treatment option for many reasons, offering a solution where other treatments may not be suitable.

Here are the detailed situations where IVF is commonly recommended:

• Blocked or Damaged Fallopian Tubes: The fallopian tubes are the natural pathway where the egg is fertilized by the sperm before traveling to the uterus. If these tubes are blocked, scarred, or damaged due to infections (like Pelvic Inflammatory Disease), previous surgeries, or conditions like hydrosalpinx, natural conception is impossible. IVF completely bypasses the fallopian tubes by retrieving eggs directly from the ovaries, fertilizing them in our advanced lab, and placing the resulting embryo directly into the uterus.

• Male Factor Infertility: In nearly half of all infertility cases, issues with sperm are a contributing factor. 
  • Low Sperm Count (Oligospermia): Not enough sperm to ensure fertilization.
  • Poor Sperm Movement (Asthenospermia): Sperm are unable to swim effectively to reach the egg.
  • Abnormal Sperm Shape (Teratozoospermia): Abnormally shaped sperm may be unable to penetrate the egg. IVF combined with Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is a revolutionary solution for male infertility. ICSI involves selecting a single, healthy sperm and injecting it directly into the egg, overcoming nearly all barriers related to sperm quality or quantity.

• Severe Male Infertility Requiring Sperm Retrieval: In some cases, there is no sperm present in the ejaculate (Azoospermia). This can be due to a blockage or a production issue. Using advanced techniques like TESA (Testicular Sperm Aspiration) or PESA (Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration), our specialists can retrieve sperm directly from the testes. This retrieved sperm can then be used with IVF-ICSI to achieve fertilization.

• Ovulation Disorders: Conditions like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) can cause irregular or absent ovulation, making it difficult to time intercourse or IUI treatments. While initial treatments involve ovulation-inducing medications, some women may not respond well. IVF offers a higher level of control, stimulating the ovaries to produce multiple eggs and ensuring that fertilization and embryo development occur under ideal laboratory conditions.

• Endometriosis: Endometriosis is a condition where uterine tissue grows outside the uterus, causing inflammation, scarring, and sometimes cysts on the ovaries (endometriomas). This can damage the fallopian tubes, affect the uterine environment, and negatively impact egg quality. IVF is highly effective for women with endometriosis as it retrieves eggs directly from the source and allows the embryo to develop in a pristine lab environment, away from any inflammation.

• Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR): This refers to having a lower number of eggs in the ovaries than is typical for a woman’s age. While related to age, it can occur in younger women as well. Since fewer eggs are available, IVF helps to maximize the potential of the remaining reserve by stimulating and retrieving as many eggs as possible in a single cycle, thus increasing the odds of finding a healthy embryo.

• Age-Related Infertility: As a woman ages, both the quantity and, more importantly, the genetic quality of her eggs decline. This leads to lower chances of natural conception and a higher risk of miscarriage. IVF helps overcome this by allowing for the retrieval of multiple eggs. Furthermore, it can be combined with Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT-A) to screen embryos for chromosomal abnormalities, helping us select the healthiest embryo for transfer.

• Unexplained Infertility: This diagnosis is given when a couple has been trying to conceive for over a year without success, and all standard fertility tests for both partners have come back normal. In these cases, there may be subtle, undetectable issues with egg quality, sperm function, fertilization, or embryo implantation. IVF can often overcome these hidden barriers and can also act as a diagnostic tool, providing valuable information about the fertilization and embryo development process.

• Recurrent Implantation Failure (RIF): This is a term used when a patient has undergone several IVF cycles and had high-quality embryos transferred without achieving pregnancy. At Ferty9, we can conduct further investigations into uterine health (using tests like ERA, EMMA, ALICE) or embryo genetics to diagnose and address the underlying cause before attempting another targeted IVF cycle.

• Fertility Preservation: IVF technology is crucial for preserving the ability to have children in the future.
  • Oncofertility: For cancer patients who need to freeze their eggs, sperm, or embryos before starting chemotherapy or radiation, which can damage fertility.
  • Social Egg Freezing: For women who wish to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs at a younger age, giving them more options to start a family later in life.

• Preventing Genetic Disorders: For couples who are known carriers of a specific genetic disease (like Thalassemia, Cystic Fibrosis, or Sickle Cell Anemia), IVF with Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT-M) is a powerful tool. It allows our embryologists to test the embryos for the specific condition and transfer only the healthy, unaffected ones, preventing the disease from being passed on to the child.

• Previous Sterilization For individuals who have had a tubal ligation (tubes tied) or a vasectomy and wish to have children again, IVF is often a more successful and less invasive alternative to surgical reversal.

Learn More About:

• IVF Process
• IVF Success Rate
• Why Choose Ferty9
• IVF Cost
• IVF Frequently Asked Questions