IVF SPAIN /ICSI
Thousands of babies are born every year through In Vitro Fertilisation
An IVF treatment consists in the fertilization of the women eggs in the laboratory with the sperm of her husband/partner or donor, and the subsequent transfer to the uterus of the embryos.
IVF treatments are indicated to women who have their fallopian tubes blocked or in case assisted insemination has not been successful.
In order to undergo an IVF treatment, the patient has to receive hormonal therapy. The hormonal therapy allows the women to develop more eggs than she would have in a natural cycle (normally one or two). This therapy lasts for 10-14 days, starting at the beginning of the menstruation period. While taking this therapy, the patient needs to do a series of ultrasounds to control the growth and number of follicles in her ovaries, which contain the oocytes. When the follicles reach the optimal size, the egg retrieval takes place.
The egg retrieval consists on extracting the eggs with a needle through the vagina. The procedure is controlled with an ultrasound. It takes around 15 minutes and it is not painful, as it is done under sedation/anesthesia. After the egg collection, the patient has to rest for an hour and then she can go home normally.
Right after the extraction of the eggs, they are fertilized in the IVF laboratory. Eggs can be fertilized in two different ways:
IVF
Fertilization is achieved by mixing the eggs with a selection of the best sperm in the same media. Fertilization follows its natural process without manipulation. This technique may not be suitable for low-quality semen samples.
ICSI
Fertilization is achieved by introducing a single sperm into the egg cytoplasm. This technique enables us to obtain high rates of fertilization with low quality semen samples, impossible to achieve with other fertilization techniques, such as standard in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination.
The resulting embryos are cultured in an incubator for 2 to 3 days. Five days may be required if the embryos need to be developed to blastocyst stage. After incubation, embryos are evaluated and the best specimens are selected and transferred to the uterus.
The embryo transfer is an easy and painless procedure which takes a few minutes. It is performed with a small catheter and no anesthesia is needed. As it is regulated by Spanish law, we will transfer a maximum of 3 embryos.
The remaining good quality embryos are vitrified (frozen) for future trials.
