In-Vitro Fertilization is one of main treatments for normal delay of pregnancy that can be caused by either the husband or wife, and it recently witnessed many scientific developments which will be discussed more by Dr. Mohammed Osama, Consultant in Gynecology and Fertility/IVF at New Hope IVF hospital.
Dr. Mohamed states that the birth of the first IVF child in history of medicine was in July 1978 for the child Louis Brown, after treatments lasted for almost a century and since that day, the concept of infertility has changed and gave new hope for each couple to become a father and mother.
Dr. Mohamed Osama also said that IVF surgery was used for infertility treatments resulting from the obstruction of the fallopian tubes and it was based on natural period and natural ovulation, and at that time the patient needed a laparoscopy to extract the single egg used. Now, with the new scientific and technical developments, the IVF surgery is used to solve most of pregnancy delay problems, and by the induction of ovulation, it is possible that more eggs are retrieved, more eggs means more chances to get pregnant.
Steps of In Vitro Fertilization:
First, the wife and husband must undergo some tests to know the causes of pregnancy delay, because sometimes the reasons are bearable and do not need any IVF procedures. The tests for the wife consist of a blood test, Transvaginal ultrasound and a radiation examination, and during the first day of the period, the wife is given certain pills to activate the ovulation to produce larger number of oocytes. This procedure helps in increasing the probability of forming a certain number of embryos and therefore increasing the rate of surgery success, and it is likely to mention that certain medicine is given to prevent the explosion of eggs in order to continue with the process safely.
The process of induction of ovulation is being followed up by Transvaginal ultrasound and some blood tests until the eggs reach to the appropriate size and this is when the doctor provides injections for ovum maturation before retrieving them, which occurs after 36 hours of the injection. There is no need for any surgery, as the process is done by a needle placed on the Transvaginal ultrasound after sterilizing the vagina, then the oocytes will be sent to a laboratory to verify their maturity and quality before placing them in an external media.
A sperm sample is taken from the husband on the same day of extracting the eggs, and the normal and viable sperms are separated from the other, then the sperms will be added to the eggs under special circumstances. The numbers of sperms vary between 50,000 and 100,000 sperm for each egg and are placed in special media. On the second day, examinations are done to verify the sperm fertilization of the oocyte.
After fertilization, embryos are transferred to the mother’s uterus by a special tube inserted through the cervix uteri to the uterus and the embryos are then placed in the cavity of uterus. This process occurs between the third and fifth day after extracting the oocytes. Certain medicine is given for pregnancy stabilization, and after 2 weeks of transferring the embryos to the uterus, pregnancy blood test is done to assure the fetus implantation and then hopefully pregnancy might occur.
Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection:
Intra Cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is similar to IVF procedure, however only one sperm is being injected directly into the egg with a special device under the microscope. This process applies mostly to cases where the number of sperms is less than the required number, or if fertilization did not occur by in vitro fertilization (IVF).
