IVF Creates the Best Opportunity for Pregnancy
Ovation provides the expertise and scientific training that brings hope to those seeking to create a family. Sometimes, due to a variety of circumstances, nature needs an assist in the form of IVF to achieve a successful pregnancy. During the IVF process, eggs are combined with sperm outside of the body, or “in vitro,” in an IVF laboratory. This process creates embryo(s), which are then returned to the uterus where they can attach to the uterine lining to produce a pregnancy.
The IVF Process at Ovation
Before deciding to pursue IVF, your fertility doctor will conduct various infertility tests to determine which fertility treatment is the right one for you and your partner. This testing also helps determine the best treatment protocol for each patient, including which medication to use, how and when to administer it, and which dose will work best.
After a woman successfully completes her stimulation protocol, and her eggs, or oocytes, are ready for retrieval, the magic of IVF begins.
Egg retrieval – During egg retrieval, a very small needle is passed directly into each ovary to aspirate eggs from your developing follicles. Once removed from the follicles, the eggs are placed in insemination media, which is specially designed to support the fertilization process.
Fertilization – This is the process by which a sperm delivers the male’s genetic material into the egg. There are two ways in which fertilization occurs. Sometimes, it happens almost like it does in nature, using a process called insemination. During this procedure, thousands of sperm are placed, along with a single egg, into a small drop of fluid in the laboratory, and over the course of the next few hours, a single sperm hopefully binds to the egg’s surface and then penetrates the egg’s nucleus to deliver its DNA.
For men with abnormal sperm, women with few eggs, or couples desiring preimplantation genetic testing, we use a different procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). With ICSI, a single sperm is actually injected directly into each egg using a microscopic needle.
Embryo culture – Ovation uses different types of media to grow your embryos. Each type of media is specially formulated using amino acids, sugars, and other elements needed for optimal embryonic growth and development. Some types of media are formulated such that embryos can grow in the same dish for several days, while other types require the culture media to be changed more frequently. Over the past 20 years, there have been many advances in culture media development, and there are now several choices available to the embryologists.
Regardless of which media is used, the goal of embryo culture remains the same: to improve the chance that embryos will develop into the blastocyst stage, which usually occurs five to seven days after fertilization.
Embryo transfer – This is the procedure whereby a developing embryo is placed into the uterus. It typically occurs either on Day 3 or Day 5 after fertilization, based on the patient’s – or embryo’s – specific circumstances.
Our caring staff will support you every step of the way on your IVF journey, and you can feel confident knowing that you are being treated by some of the most experienced physicians, embryologists, nurses, and support staff in the United States. Contact Ovation to learn more.