IVF
Innovations in the field of medicine and bio-technology have also been reflected to IVF treatments in a short period, and especially the new treatment methods developed after 1990s have become a glimmer of hope for many pairs without children. Today, thousands of pairs are having baby every year by means of these methods.
For IVF treatments, the term “in vitro fertilization (IVF)” is used in medicine. In broad terms, the method of IVF is in vitro fertilization of oocytes collected from the woman with sperms of her husband (in laboratory) and placement of embryos into uterus after 2 to 5 days.
Techniques assisting IVF implementations or reproduction (ART) :
The main methods called as Assisted Reproductive Techniques or shortly “ART” are:
- Intrauterine insemination (IUI) – Fertilization
- In vitro fertilization (IVF)
- Micro-injection (ICSI)
- Embryo and Blastocyst transfer
- Embryo freezing and transfer of frozen embryo
- Pre-implementation genetic diagnosis
The women to whom IVF will be implemented use drugs for development and growth of many oocytes in their ovaries.
Oocytes develop within the follicles in the ovaries.
The oocytes are taken out of body when follicles reach a certain size.
The oocytes and sperms are brought together in laboratory.
Conventional IVF / Micro-Injection
The embryos are placed within special devices called incubator. The special liquids within culture media include substances required for feeding and growth of embryos. The internal side of incubator is a very sensitive device which keeps heat, humidity and gas concentrations required for normal split and growth of embryos at a certain level. An incubator contains significantly purified and filtered air.
After the embryos are kept in laboratory for a certain period (2-5 days), they are taken out of incubator and then transferred to uterus of expectant mother. Following this stage, the embryos spend the time until birth within uterus of the expectant mother. Therefore, the embryo spending nearly 3-5 days in a tube before being transferred to the uterus under normal conditions spends this time in the laboratory during IVF implementation. Here, as tubes of a woman are by-passed completely, a woman without tubes or with blocked tubes can have baby in that way.
