Approximately 20% of couples trying to conceive experience fertility difficulties, although there are several assisted reproductive technologies in use. In vitro fertilisation, more commonly know as IVF, is the process of fertilising eggs outside of the body. The embryos of the fertilised eggs are placed into the woman 's uterus, hopefully following through to a successful pregnancy (Better Health, 2014). The first successful IVF baby was born in 1978, and since then roughly 68,000 successful IVF babies have been born. The success rate per treatment cycle of a woman becoming pregnant from IVF is roughly at 22% (Beep, 2012). Currently IVF is legal in Australia, but it is argued that IVF shouldn’t be allowed due to the fact that it goes against
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When multiple embryos are developed, a few are transferred into the woman’s uterus using a very fine tube (Beep, 2012). The IVF procedure is taken over several weeks, with multiple procedures being undertaken. First the ovaries have to be stimulated, then the eggs are collected, the eggs are fertilized outside of the body and the successful embryo is placed back into the body. To stimulate the ovaries hormones are given to produce more than the usual one egg per cycle. The eggs are monitored by blood tests and ultrasounds to make sure they are collected at the right time. An ultrasound probe inserted into the vagina with a fine needle is how the eggs are collected (Better Health, 2014). In standard IVF, a few hours after the eggs are collected, sperm is collected and mixed with the eggs on a petri dish, where one sperm is directly injected into the cytoplasm of each egg in intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment. If an egg is fertilised by the sperm, it is kept in an incubator for several days while the pre-embryo grows. Once the embryo has grown to a predetermined size, one or two of the embryos are transferred into the woman’s uterus. A few weeks after this procedure a blood test is taken to see if the treatment was successful and if the woman is pregnant (Better Health, …show more content…
However, this is yet to be proven and no clear evidence has been found to suggest that this is true. An extremely rare risk of undergoing IVF is other organs can be damaged, or the collection needle could cause infection of bleeding. These are quite serious matters but as stated they are very rare and don’t happen in most cases (Better Health, 2014). The extra hormones can lead to breast tenderness, abnormal swelling, dizziness and nausea. OHSS, also known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, can occur when the levels of hormone oestrogen rise too high when too many follicles develop. This can be an unpleasant experience, with vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, lower abdominal pain, swelling and nausea. However, it is rare for the pain of OHSS to be sever enough to be hospitalised. These aspects are all side effects and don’t have any permanent issues with undergoing IVF (Better Health, 2014). Single babies born after IVF have a higher risk of being of low birth weight or born premature, but twins aren’t at risk of these if they are born after IVF (Beep, 2012). In the past there have been incidents where embryos have been mixed up. However there is now a system in place where two specialists are on site to ensure this mistake doesn’t happen (Health Centre,
When multiple embryos are developed, a few are transferred into the woman’s uterus using a very fine tube (Beep, 2012). The IVF procedure is taken over several weeks, with multiple procedures being undertaken. First the ovaries have to be stimulated, then the eggs are collected, the eggs are fertilized outside of the body and the successful embryo is placed back into the body. To stimulate the ovaries hormones are given to produce more than the usual one egg per cycle. The eggs are monitored by blood tests and ultrasounds to make sure they are collected at the right time. An ultrasound probe inserted into the vagina with a fine needle is how the eggs are collected (Better Health, 2014). In standard IVF, a few hours after the eggs are collected, sperm is collected and mixed with the eggs on a petri dish, where one sperm is directly injected into the cytoplasm of each egg in intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment. If an egg is fertilised by the sperm, it is kept in an incubator for several days while the pre-embryo grows. Once the embryo has grown to a predetermined size, one or two of the embryos are transferred into the woman’s uterus. A few weeks after this procedure a blood test is taken to see if the treatment was successful and if the woman is pregnant (Better Health, …show more content…
However, this is yet to be proven and no clear evidence has been found to suggest that this is true. An extremely rare risk of undergoing IVF is other organs can be damaged, or the collection needle could cause infection of bleeding. These are quite serious matters but as stated they are very rare and don’t happen in most cases (Better Health, 2014). The extra hormones can lead to breast tenderness, abnormal swelling, dizziness and nausea. OHSS, also known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, can occur when the levels of hormone oestrogen rise too high when too many follicles develop. This can be an unpleasant experience, with vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, lower abdominal pain, swelling and nausea. However, it is rare for the pain of OHSS to be sever enough to be hospitalised. These aspects are all side effects and don’t have any permanent issues with undergoing IVF (Better Health, 2014). Single babies born after IVF have a higher risk of being of low birth weight or born premature, but twins aren’t at risk of these if they are born after IVF (Beep, 2012). In the past there have been incidents where embryos have been mixed up. However there is now a system in place where two specialists are on site to ensure this mistake doesn’t happen (Health Centre,