In Vitro Fertilization

Context: In a
ground-breaking achievement in the sphere of health care in Sonitpur district,
a dedicated doctors’ team in Tezpur has been able to gain success in an ‘in
vitro fertilization’ (IVF) procedure, bringing joy to a hitherto childless
couple. While revealing the success story with special reference to the modern
pregnancy procedure, IVF entails a complex series of processes that can lead to
pregnancy. It’s a treatment for infertility, which is a condition wherein a
woman cannot get pregnant after years of trying. It also can be used to prevent
passing on of genetic problems to a baby.

Key points

·      
Overview: This is
the first successful case of a baby being born under the IVF procedure in
central Assam. Till date the procedure has not been successfully carried out in
districts like Nagaon, Morigaon and Darrang.

·      
In-vitro
fertilization: In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) is an assisted
reproductive technology (ART) where an egg and a sperm are fertilised outside a
woman’s body in a laboratory. It is a process that is used to overcome
infertility and support surrogacy.

·      
Background: It was
first successfully performed in 1978, when IVF gave birth to Louis Brown.
Lesley Brown, his mother, had been facing infertility issues since 9 years when
she took help from Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards at Dr Kershaw’s Cottage
Hospital in Royton, Oldham, England.

·      
Procedure: Stimulation / Superovulation- Normally,
a woman produces one egg per month. But for IVF procedures, doctors give drugs
to women to produce several eggs in a month. These eggs are examined from time
to time to pick the healthiest one in the next step.

Retrieval of Egg and Sperm Preparation- The eggs
are retrieved from the female by a procedure known as transvaginal oocyte
retrieval. An oocyte selection is performed to select the egg that has the
highest chance of fertilisation. The sperms are extracted from semen by
removing inactive cells and seminal fluid in a process called sperm washing.

Egg Fertilisation- The female egg and male
sperm are incubated together for fertilisation. The sperm generally enters the
egg and insemination is carried out, but in cases where sperm motility is low,
the sperm is directly injected into the egg.

Embryo Development- The fertilised egg divides
to form an embryo. The embryo divides by cleavage to form a blastocyst (after
5-6 days of incubation).