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“IN VITRO” FERTILIZATION

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What is “in Vitro” fertilization?

“In vitro” fertilization is a complex technique which demands experience and technology. This process consists in fertilizing the woman’s eggs in our laboratory with the sperm from her husband/partner or donor. The embryos obtained from the fertilization are transferred into the uterus. If the sperm used to fertilize the eggs belongs to the woman’s husband/partner, this technique is called Homologous “in vitro” Fertilization. However, if the sperm is from a donor, it is called Heterologous “in vitro” Fertilization.

What does this technique involve?

This technique consists of 4 phases:

Ovarian stimulation: it involves inducing a multiple ovulation through a hormonal treatment controlled with ultrasound scans.

Egg retrieval: it is a short operation which lasts 15 minutes and which is controlled with ultrasound scans. During the egg retrieval, the mature eggs are extracted from the ovaries. Is this operation painful? No, in most cases, the patients who undergo egg retrieval do not consider it as painful.

Fertilization process: it involves the artificial fertilization of the eggs obtained during the egg retrieval. The biologists mix approximately 25000 spermatozoids (previously selected and prepared) with each egg and wait until the fertilization is achieved.

Embryo transfer: it involves the transfer of the embryos which have been obtained in the laboratory (it is done usually 2 our 3 days after the egg retrieval) and the embryo freezing, in case there are remaining embryos.

Is it possible to use sperm from a donor?

Yes, in case it is necessary, our patients can request the use of the Sperm Bank available at Ginefiv for the fertilization. This technique is called Heterologous “in vitro” Fertilization.

What do you need to know about our Sperm Bank?

Sperm donation is absolutely legal in Spain, regardless the patient’s nationality or origin.

Sperm donation is anonymous. Under no circumstances will Ginefiv be able to reveal the donor’s identity to the recipient couple and vice versa.

At Ginefiv, all donors have to pass exhaustive medical exams and their sperm samples are quarantined in order to confirm that there is no transmissible disease.

Thanks to the high number of sperm donors at Ginefiv, our clinic is able to easily find a sperm donor with physical features compatible with the recipients.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the “in vitro fertilization”?

The main advantage of this technique is that it is possible to observe though a microscope the eggs and the spermatozoids, which allows us to have more information about the infertility of the couple and to detect morphological anomalies.

This information will allow us to predict the couple’s chances of achieving a pregnancy and to improve the treatment in case of further cycles.

Moreover, the possibility of freezing the remaining embryos increases the possibilities of getting pregnant in other cycles. For a second try, there will only be necessary to carry out the last phase of the cycle.