IVF the Bridge Clinic Way

04:35 20th August 2013 | Bridge Clinic Procedures

First Visit Consultation Medical History Human Reproduction Investigations Review Consultation Treatment Schedule Counselling IUI IMSI ICSI IVF Ovarian Stimulation Egg Collection Injections UltraSound Follicles HCG Fertilisation Follicular Fluid Normal Sperm Conventional IVF Embryo Culture Incubators Uterus Progesterone Blood Vessels

The first visit
The objective of the first visit is to meet our doctors who will explain our services and elicit a history that will allow us to address your own particular issues. We will give you an overview of human reproduction and then prepare a plan of investigations for you.

The review consultation
The results of all the investigations will be reviewed with you and then we will schedule you for treatment appropriate to you. The choice of treatments will range from counseling and advice, through ovulation induction treatment, and Intra uterine insemination (IUI) to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and Intra- cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Most couples that have been trying to conceive for over three years will need IVF.

Ovarian stimulation and monitoring for IVF
The objective of ovarian stimulation for IVF is the collection of 10 to 15 eggs compared with the one egg that the woman produces every month. The woman takes some injections to allow the development of these eggs, which are monitored by ultrasound. When the size of the leading follicle approaches 21 mm, we ask the woman to take a special injection called hcg that triggers the final maturation of the egg.

Egg collection
The egg collection procedure is a simple one in which a needle is guided into the ovaries to suck out the fluids (and the egg). The woman is given some sedating injections to take the pain away.

Fertilisation
After egg collection, the follicular fluid and the eggs are transferred to the laboratory for fertilisation. Where the mans sperms are normal, conventional IVF is carried out. When there is a problem with the semen parameters and the sperms are deemed not able to fertilise the eggs by themselves then we will carry out the procedure of ICSI. A further extension of the ICSI technique is IMSI, where we use microscopes of high magnification to select sperms that have better fertilisation potential.

Embryo Culture
Following fertilization, the embryos are kept in incubators which are carefully controlled to simulate the conditions of the woman’s body so that the fertilised eggs believe that they are inside the woman and they continue to develop. After three to five days of development they are prepared for transfer into the uterus.

The Embryo transfer
The embryo transfer is a simple process where the embryos are placed in a thin plastic tube which is gently inserted into the uterus to transfer one or two embryos. Following the embryo transfer, the woman takes progesterone pessaries to maintain the lining of the womb. This allows the embryos to continue to develop, divide and connect with the mothers’ blood vessels and “draw life”.