In vitro fertilization (commonly referred to as simply IVF) is a method of assisted reproduction that offers infertile couples an opportunity to have a child who is biologically related to them.
With IVF, a man's sperm and the woman's egg are combined by an IVF specialist in a laboratory dish, where fertilization occurs. The embryo which forms is then put into the woman's uterus (womb) to develop naturally. Usually, 3 or 4 embryos are put in the woman's uterus each time. Each attempt is called a cycle, and the cost of IVF per cycle is approximately $10,000.
Here are some more details of what exactly is involved in each cycle...
The woman will be given hormones to stimulate her ovaries to produce several eggs. A surgeon will then insert a needle through the vagina into the woman's ovary to take out the eggs. General anesthesia is not required when the surgeon does this, though the woman is sometimes given a mild sedative. Whilst that is taking place, the man provides a semen sample. He is asked not to have sexual intercourse for a few days before the eggs are taken from the woman. The next step is for the sperm to be separated from the semen, which is done through a laboratory procedure.
Following this, the sperm will be mixed in the laboratory dish with the eggs taken from the woman. Around 18 hours after this has been done, the laboratory dish is examined to find out if any of the eggs have been fertilized and have begun to grow as embryos. If they have, they are incubated and observed over the next 2-7 days. After that time, the embryos will be transferred back to the woman through the cervix with a catheter (a long slender tube). The woman is then given certain hormones for the following 2 weeks. If the implantation works (which is the case if any of the eggs attach to the wall of the uterine and grow), a pregnancy test result will show as positive.
The success rate of this procedure is 37% among women younger than 35 years, 28% for those between 36-39 years and 14% in those who are 40+ years. Therefore, the total cost of IVF is generally more than $20,000, as a minority of couples succeed first time around.
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