In Vitro Fertilization, What Is It?

By Author: Sally Smith
Total Articles: 3764
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Today, there are modern and advanced technologies to help women overcome infertility. In vitro fertilization is one such procedure. The harsh fact of the matter is there are over 6.1 million individuals who are troubled by some type of infertility.

Some of these problems can be solved with minor surgeries or by taking medicine orally; however, other types of procedures may be needed if the problem is more severe. In 1981, IVF was successfully completed in the United States for the first time.

Since then, well over 250,000 babies have been born as a result of using this procedure. IVF has allowed numerous women who have not been able to conceive a baby in the past, to get pregnant and have a baby of their own.

IVF is a procedure where a mans sperm is added to the womans egg in a laboratory dish where it is then fertilized, for about 40 hours. After about 40 hours the eggs are checked to see whether or not they are fertilized.

This IVF process is one way of doing infertility treatments and is also known as an assisted reproduction. After the womans eggs have been fertilized, the embryo is then transferred ...
... into the womb and allowed to develop naturally. When the implanting process takes place, 2 to 4 embryos are normally put into the uterus or womb.

During the early years of in vitro fertilization and sometimes still today, the children born of this technique are known as "test tube babies." The first test tube baby was born in England in 1978. IVF is normally used as a treatment when a woman has blocked tubes, damaged tubes or has no fallopian tubes whatsoever.

Nevertheless, it can also be used when the person trying to conceive has endometriosis or if the male involved has a low sperm count. Another time when IVF is used is when other fertility treadments did not work.

In vitro fertilization has made it possible for women, who once thought they could never become pregnant, to become mothers of their naturally born children. Even women the age of 40 and up have a success rate of about 13% with IVF. It should be noted that reproductive health is not all that has to be kept in mind when dealing with assisted conception.

If the female faces other medical issues, this could bring about a problem. Many factors such as age, overall physical health
and medical history should be considered before IVF or any other infertility procedure is done or practiced.