What is IVF?

It is an assisted human reproduction technique, in which the fecundation takes place outside the human organism, in a specialized laboratory. Thus, after the ovarian stimulation takes places in order to obtain a certain number of oocytes ( female sexual cells ), they are harvested using the vaginal puncture procedure, ultrasound-guided, and then they are put in contact, in special lab conditions, with the partner?s sperm, which is first properly harvested and prepared. Embryos are formed and after 48-72 hours are introduced in the uterus in order to be implanted.

In 1978 Louise Brown was born, the first child conceived in vitro. Since then, the number of the IVF children grows every year, already being recorded millions of them. There haven?t been observed any differences between these children and those naturally conceived, taking into consideration the malformation percentage, intelligence and other factors. Some recent studies have demonstrated that children conceived through assisted human reproduction techniques have a better IQ.

It is well to be known that for a perfect fertile couple, with a regular, unprotected sexual activity, the chances of fecundation, implantation and development of the embryo are around 22% for every cycle. This means that an average of 3-4 months of unprotected sexual activity (with limits between one month and a year) is needed to obtain pregnancy. About a quarter of them are spontaneously lost until reaching 3 months.

The progress of IVF technique made possible that, during a period of 20 years, the same success percentage to be obtained by couples with serious fertility problems.The average world wide success percentage is about 30-35%. In some cases and etiologies, chances can go up to 40-45%. Like in the case of fertile couples, 3-4 treatment cycles might be necessary in order to obtain a pregnancy, IVF technique being a procedure that can be repeated and adapted based on precedent results. After the age of 40 years, the rate of success of IVF technique, using the female's own oocytes, decreases dramatically under 5-10% and the risk of spontaneous abortion and fetal malformations increases.

In many clinics, multiple pregnancies (twins, triplets) are more frequent after IVF, reepresenting about 25% of the total pregnancies. In our center, this percentage is only 5% due to the transfer of an optimal number of embryos. The abortion risk after IVF is around 20%, same like in natural pregnancies. The cryopreservation programme allows the embryos transfer to be repeated, without a new treatment of ovarian stimulation and ovarian puncture, which means low costs for the patient.