For some couples, the search for a pregnancy can be more complicated than usual. Sometimes the sperm are too weak, the woman has undergone a tubal ligation or artificial insemination is ineffective. For all these problems, science has offered an alternative: in vitro fertilization.
A little history
On November 10, 1977, doctors transferred an eight-cell embryo to the mother’s uterus, which turned out to be viable, and on July 25, 1978, in Oldham, Louise Brown was born, the first girl conceived in vitro. The success of this operation led to other successes. Two years later, in Melbourne, the second “test tube baby” was born, and in 1982 Elizabeth Carr was born in the United States. Since the first successful case of in vitro fertilization, more than three million “test tube babies” have been born. Many of them, including Louise herself, were mothers and fathers without medical assistance.
What does it consist of?
- This assisted reproductive technique consists of five very basic steps. From the second day of menstruation, ovarian stimulation is carried out. This consists of injecting hormones into the woman’s body to stimulate ovulation. This first part of the process is carried out under strict medical controls that control the state of the female body and the amount of hormones in the blood. A few weeks later, the oocytes are extracted. This process is not carried out by surgery. Today, only an ultrasound-guided needle is necessary, so anesthesia and hospitalization are not necessary.
- Once the oocytes have been extracted, they are fertilized in a petri dish with previously purified and prepared semen. If the oocyte has been fertilized, the doctors will wait three days, when the egg has divided until it reaches 8 cells, to implant it in the woman’s uterus. The culture process can be lengthened, so that the embryo will not be implanted in the uterus until after 4 or 5 days.
- Once the embryo has been transferred, a rest period in the clinic is recommended. Likewise, in the following days, the mother-to-be should maintain low activity and stay relaxed. Abdominal cramps are possible, but this should not worry expectant parents as they will go away in no time.
Complementary techniques
- IVF can be accompanied by oocyte freezing, to preserve the most fertile oocytes of the woman who cannot fertilize naturally due to health or personal problems, but who wishes to keep so that she can become a mother in the future. Embryos can also be frozen. In fact, this is done with the non-transferred embryos, in order to have other embryos to implant in the woman’s body if the first fertilization is not successful.
- Embryo freezing can hinder the natural hatching process of the embryo, which is why assisted hatching is used, which consists of perforating the outer membrane of the embryo before carrying out the transfer. In this way, the implantation of the embryo in the uterus is facilitated.