In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the technique in which the egg is fertilized outside the womb with the help of male sperm. This is today one of the most reliable and widely used method to deal with infertility- both the male infertility as well as the female infertility.
In this method the eggs are removed from the ovary of females and is fertilized with the sperm in a fluid medium; the hormones are used to control the ovulatory process. Once the zygote is formed it is transferred to the female uterus where it further develops. The female uterus should be capable of carrying the zygote otherwise one will have to opt for surrogates.
The woman’s age and health is taken into consideration and also the embryos effectiveness is judged before the implantation of embryo in the uterus. The female egg along with the male sperm is incubated in a culture medium for 18 hours. After this the fertilized egg is allowed to grow up to 6-8 cell stages, this takes about 48 hours
One of the major drawbacks of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is multiple births; transfer of multiple embryos to the uterus is considered to be its main cause. Miscarriage, pre mature birth and neonatal morbidity are some of the complications associated with multiple births. Though studies have shown that there are no birth defects related to in vitro fertilization (IVF) but still many consider it to be the cause of birth defects.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) may fail if the selected egg is damaged or abnormal, if the sperm collected is not suitable, if the fertilization was not carried out accurately or if the implantation of embryo in the uterus fails.
The method is costly but reliable; in most of the cases the result is positive. Proper implementation and adoption of correct procedure is required.