In vitro fertilization can help make your dream of parenthood come true

Fertility Answers employs in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to help patients facing many causes of male and female infertility. Our Louisiana fertility centers offer IVF to treat infertility when less aggressive methods like intrauterine insemination and ovarian stimulation are unsuccessful.

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IVF effectively treats many causes of male and female infertility.

We find that IVF can be an excellent option for many patients who have struggled to get pregnant with other fertility treatments. Candidates may include:

• Women with tubal issues.
• Women with endometriosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome, PCOS.
• Women with unexplained infertility or recurrent miscarriages.
• Women of advanced maternal age.
• Men with low sperm counts.
• Couples with inherited genetic disease in their families.
• Couples who wish to avoid having twins or other multiple pregnancies.

Before selecting IVF as a treatment for infertility, we want patients to understand how the procedure works.

Step 1 – Ovulation induction. You will start daily injections of an ovulation induction medication. These medications stimulate the growth of multiple follicles in both ovaries. Your physician will monitor your hormone levels and follicle development daily over the next week. When your follicles are mature, you will receive an injection to trigger ovulation.

Step 2 – Egg retrieval. During this outpatient procedure, your physician will use ultrasound to locate mature follicles on the surface of your ovaries. The eggs, contained in the follicles, will then be removed by aspiration using a small needle.

Step 3 – Fertilization. After egg retrieval, your eggs will be combined with your partner’s sperm or donor sperm in the lab. An embryologist will check for signs of fertilization and will monitor the growing embryos over the next 5 to 6 days.

Step 4 – Embryo transfer. During embryo transfer the embryo from the lab will be transferred back into your uterus with a long flexible catheter. Implantation of the embryo into the uterine lining usually occurs over the next 5 to 7 days.

Step 5 – Cryopreservation. Oftentimes patients will produce more viable embryos than they need in one IVF cycle. Additional embryos can be frozen, or cryopreserved, to be used later in a frozen embryo transfer, or FET.

Step 6 – Pregnancy test.  You can expect your physician to order a pregnancy test about 2 weeks after transfer.

Genetic testing and IVF may be used to reveal potential family illness.

Patients undergoing IVF can also benefit from embryo genetic testing. Options include preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) or preimplantation genetic testing for monogenetic disease (PGT-M). These tests find genetic illness and chromosomal abnormalities in their embryos.

PGT-A is the process of testing an embryo for chromosomal abnormalities. Most chromosomally abnormal embryos will result in IVF failure or miscarriage. Fertility specialists can use PGT to determine which embryos are abnormal and will not grow to be a viable pregnancy.

Using PGT-M during the IVF process identifies known genetic illnesses in embryos. We can now screen embryos for illnesses like sickle cell, cystic fibrosis and Tay Sachs so parents can make informed decisions about the health of their future children.

If you would like more information about IVF or any other assisted reproductive technology, please contact Fertility Answers today.