In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
IVF stands for in vitro fertilisation. In vitro literally means ‘in glass’. An egg is combined with sperm in the laboratory.
There are two techniques for this:
- Conventional IVF
- ICSI or intracytoplasmic sperm injection
In conventional IVF, sperm and egg cells are combined in a Petri dish. In ICSI, a single sperm cell is injected into each egg. This treatment can be useful when, for example, there are few sperm cells available and/or when several insemination attempts did not yield the desired result.
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Ever since the inception of our centre in 1983, we have been conducting research on children who were conceived with ART at our centre.
The treatment in a nutshell
Hormonal medication: suppression and stimulation
Your natural menstrual cycle is temporarily replaced by a medically controlled cycle. You will be given hormones to stimulate the ovaries and develop multiple oocytes.
Oocyte retrieval or pick-up
Just before ovulation, you go to the operating room where the doctor punctures the ovarian follicles with a fine, hollow needle and the eggs are collected in follicular fluid. This is usually done under local anaesthesia.
In the laboratory
The eggs are isolated and fertilised in the lab:
- IVF: eggs are brought together in a Petri dish with selected sperm cells from your partner (or a donor) for fertilisation.
- ICSI: in a Petri dish, a single sperm is injected into each of the mature eggs.
The Petri dish goes into an incubator that mimics the conditions in the uterus as closely as possible. Several eggs are fertilised and embryos developed. Usually a single good-quality embryo is transferred. Additional good-quality embryos can be frozen for a later transfer of thawed embryos.
Embryo transfer or transfer back into the womb
An embryo is transferred to your womb after (three to) five days, so that implantation can take place.
Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET)
During an IVF/ICSI cycle, more embryos may have developed in the lab. Any good-quality supernumerary embryos are frozen in that case. If you fail to get pregnant after the first transfer or if you want another child later, the preserved embryos are used first for a subsequent transfer.
Treatment with (frozen and) thawed embryos is called an FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer).
The treatment is less stressful because it does not require hormonal ovarian stimulation or egg retrieval.
The chances of implantation of the thawed embryo are usually the same as during a fresh embryo transfer.
For Belgian patients who are entitled to reimbursement, these are additional attempts within the same treatment cycle. Since (a maximum of) six rounds of stimulation medication are reimbursed. So any additional embryos that have been frozen after oocyte retrieval are additional chances to get pregnant.
Difference between IVF and IVF-ICSI
In ‘conventional’ IVF, fertilisation occurs in the lab because the woman’s eggs are surrounded by the man’s sperm in a Petri dish. The strongest swimmer will fertilise the egg.
ICSI or intracytoplasmic sperm injection is another lab technique, whereby a single live sperm is injected directly into the centre of an egg by an expert. The next day, we can determine whether fertilisation has occurred.
When is ICSI applied?
ICSI is usually applied for prospective parents where the man has a fertility problem. If the man’s medical examination shows that his sperm does not contain an adequate number of sperm cells to give the conventional IVF technique a chance of success, ICSI is the logical choice. However, even if the dish method does not result in fertilisation, ICSI can be used for the next attempt, possibly on some of the eggs.
Make an appointment
The colleagues in our Contact Centre are happy to help you. Please contact + 32 (0)2 477 66 99.
They will ask you a few questions, after which they direct you to the right specialist.