In Vitro Fertilization refers to a process in which a woman’s egg is fertilized outside her body. In Vitro Fertilization is visualized as an extension of the normal reproductive process. In actual sense, the procedure is used in Australia to bypass a good number of anatomical along with physical causes of infertility by replacing In Vitro Fertilization techniques with those of the processes that take place naturally in the woman’s body.

In Vitro Fertilization Process

Eggs are retrieved from the ovaries by sanction and/or needle aspiration. The In Vitro Fertilization surgeon sucks the eggs out of the ovaries through a long needle in a process known as egg retrieval. The needle can be inserted into the follicles through the vagina while the physician monitors the progress on an ultrasound screen. In this context, egg retrieval is essentially important in the event that the fallopian tubes cannot retrieve or transport the eggs.

This process requires a matured egg from the woman’s body for it to be successful; therefore, fertility drugs are used in the quest of producing more eggs. The introduction of fertility drugs enhances the growth of more ovarian follicles than they would develop naturally.

In addition, the drugs guarantee the development of more follicles and eggs. These follicles and eggs mature instead of regressing prior to ovulation. The process of increasing the count of mature follicles ensures the retrieval of more eggs and heightens the chance of creating a healthy embryo. The need for healthy embryos is to ensure that the resulting embryos are competent. By competent it means that the embryo is most probably going to develop into a normal baby upon reaching a receptive environment.

As far as In Vitro Fertilization is concerned, the implantation rate of a microscopically high grade embryo is strongly affected by the age of the woman whose fertilized eggs generated the embryo. A good grade embryo is the one formed from an egg of a younger female who is below thirty five years of age.

The capacity that an embryo derived from the egg of a younger woman will propagate a pregnancy is higher than the one derived from an egg of an older woman. For that reason, many In Vitro Fertilization procedures, in an attempt to improve the chances of a successful treatment, still transfer several embryos at one time into the uterus.

Does IVF Work?

While the success rate of an In Vitro Fertilization procedure is directly linked to the quality as well as count of embryos transferred to the woman’s uterus; the more embryos transmitted, the greater the risk of attaining twins and high order multiple pregnancy. Well, the risk of multiple babies is not a function of the count of embryos transmitted, but also embryo quality, which in turn is affected by egg quality.

On the other hand, women aged forty and above who receive several embryos are far less likely to have multiple pregnancies than younger women receiving the same number of embryos. At this juncture, it is simply a question of embryo viability, which may not be noticeable microscopically but might be a problem from a chromosomal view point.

References:

1) IVF Process: http://monashivf.com/ivf-process/

2) In Vitro Fertilization: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/In_vitro_fertilisation

3) IVF Treatment: http://ivf.com.au/fertility-treatment/ivf-treatment