In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Treatment Design

Each patient and each case are unique, for this reason, The Fertile Group designs each treatment in an individualized way. Our specialists in reproductive medicine analyze couple's medical history and, depending on the case, eventual treatments performed previously. The purpose of this first approach is to determine the origin of infertility and design the most appropriate IVF treatment in case In Vitro fertilization would be the appropriate procedure to achieve a pregnancy.

Ovarian stimulation

In order to maximize chances of pregnancy, we need to get more than one egg in a cycle, which the amount of eggs that matures naturally every month in a woman's ovary.
A good stimulation is the key to future success. Getting the largest number of eggs is important, but their quality is even more important. The ovarian stimulation process can last approximately 8 to 12 days. The Fertile Group medical team performs several ultrasound scans (between 3 and 4) and blood tests throughout the entire process until the ovarian follicles reach the appropriate number and size. At this point, egg maturation is induced through a hCG hormone injection.

Egg Retrieval

36 hours after the hCG injection, eggs are collected via a vaginal ultrasound scan. The Fertile Group specialists also administer a slight sedation to ensure that our patients would not experience any kind of discomfort. To perform the egg retrieval, the ovaries are accessed from the vaginal cavity with an ultrasound probe. Fluid is aspirated from each follicle. It is in this liquid that the eggs will be found and successively will be fertilized in our IVF laboratory. After the puncture, we take care of our patients making them rest usually for an hour. Later on, they could return to their home and usual routine.

In-vitro fertilization

After egg retrieval, the next step is eggs fertilization. This occurs in our highly specialized laboratory with a previously prepared and optimized sperm sample. Fertilization can be done with partner’s or donor semen, according to each case and specific needs of each patient.
Inside The Fertile Group laboratory, our embryologists proceed with fertilization either with a conventional IVF technique, surrounding the egg with spermatozoa in a culture plate, or injecting one by one each egg with a spermatozoa, via the ICSI technique.
This technique consists in individual selection of the best spermatozoa, which are successively deposited directly inside each egg through a fine needle.
The fertilization results will be observed approximately 18 hours later (day 1 of embryo life). In that moment we’ll know how many eggs have been successfully fertilized.

Embryo culture

Extended embryo culture lasts between 5 and 6 days. During this time, our embryologists observe and analyze embryo development in incubators where same conditions of the maternal uterus are exactly reproduced. Throughout the culture, the embryo quality is controlled and classified by morphology, their capability to divide. This information is essential for our The Fertile Group specialists, as some embryos may block during development or others should be considered not viable for future transfer.

Transfer of the best embryo

After having reached the blastocyst stage (after 5/6 days of culture) and after having prepared the uterus to receive the embryo, it is transferred into the mother's uterus with a cannula to implant and hopefully become a healthy pregnancy and delivery. While the embryo waits for the mother's uterus to be ready to receive it, it could be frozen. This technique is defined as frozen embryo transfer and, together with fresh embryo transfer is part of The Fertile Group transfer protocols depending on each case and each patient.
Several recent medical studies demonstrate that transferring previously frozen embryos increases implantation rates and improves obstetric outcomes.
Frozen Embryo Transfer also allows an optimal timing and a more natural transfer experience since the embryo can be preserved until the patient’s hormone levels return to a more natural, receptive state, usually on their next cycle.

Vitrification of remaining embryos

At the same time, we perform the vitrification (cryopreservation) of the rest of good quality embryos that were not transferred during the cycle. In this way, they could be used in an eventual subsequent cycle, so our patient wouldn’t need to undergo with a new ovarian stimulation.