In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the process of fertilizing the female partner’s matured eggs by the male partner’s sperm in the IVF lab for transfer of embryo(s) into the uterus. The procedure is performed by one of our reproductive endocrinologists, Dr. Shahryar K. Kavoussi, Dr. Maya Barsky, and Dr. Dan I. Lebovic, at our state-of-the-art IVF Austin center. As the only fertility clinic in Austin with an in-house IVF lab, our mission is to ensure the best care and comfort for our patients.
At our Austin IVF clinic, we’ll help you figure out what the reasons are that are preventing you from conceiving naturally. There could be many reasons for infertility both female and male causes which we’ll be able to help diagnosis at our Austin fertility clinic. With both in-house doctors specializing in female and male infertility, we can ensure full fertility care along with IVF treatments.
One of our IVF Austin physicians can help determine if IVF treatments are viable options for you. Schedule an initial consultation with one of our IVF specialists to discuss your concerns, answer your questions and figure out if in vitro fertilization is right for you.
This phase of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process involves the use of injectable medication under the skin of the abdomen in order to stimulate the ovaries to grow multiple follicles which contain oocytes (eggs). The injections involve small needles that are relatively user-friendly. Stimulation medications include follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH) and lower doses of leutinizing hormone (LH) which grow eggs and help the eggs produce estradiol. A medication is also used to prevent an LH surge, thereby preventing ovulation during the IVF process – either a type of medication known as a Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) agonist or a type of medication known as a GnRH antagonist is used for this purpose. Interestingly, the egg reserve blood test called Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) has been found to be helpful in individualizing the IVF stimulation protocol, including medication dosages, for IVF patients.
During the ovarian stimulation process, 4-5 transvaginal ultrasounds and estradiol lab tests are performed in order to monitor the growth of the follicles, which are fluid collections within the ovaries that contain the microscopic oocytes. When the follicles have grown enough in size and number, human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) injection is given in order to mature the oocytes for egg retrieval and subsequent fertilization in our IVF Austin laboratory.
The egg retrieval procedure is performed in the egg retrieval suite at Westlake IVF. This procedure is performed 35 hours after hCG injection and an intravenous sedation (“twilight anesthesia”) is given so that the patient is sleeping during the egg retrieval. A needle is used to aspirate the follicles that have grown and the fluid from the follicles is then given to our embryologists in our adjacent Austin IVF laboratory so that they can isolate and count the number of eggs retrieved. The procedure typically takes 10-20 minutes to perform and the patient typically has a one hour recovery time at Westlake IVF.
The fertilization of eggs by sperm in the IVF laboratory can be facilitated by our embryologists via “conventional IVF” or “intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)”. In the case of conventional IVF, 50,000 or more sperm from the male are placed with each of the female’s eggs in vitro and normally-functioning sperm would attach to the outer cover of each egg, and ideally, one sperm enters the oocyte and fertilization occurs. In the case of ICSI, a normal-appearing sperm is injected into the egg by the embryologist. Normal fertilization, as evidenced by a one-cell embryo with two nuclei (one nucleus from oocyte, one nucleus from sperm) can be observed the next morning, also known as “Day 1”, approximately 18 hours after conventional IVF or ICSI.
On Day 2, an embryo that has divided into a multicellular embryo (typically 2-5 cells) is at the “cleavage stage”. Embryos at the cleavage stage are graded based on cell number and “fragmentation”, which refers to extra, non-uniform “pieces” of cytoplasm which are not cells. On Day 3, an embryo with favorable morphology has 6-8 cells and a fragmentation grading of A or B, both of which indicate minimal fragmentation.
The transfer of fresh embryo(s) into the uterus of the female occurs either on Day 3 or Day 5. The ideal day for embryo transfer is dependent on various patient-related and embryo-related factors. When the embryo transfer is performed, embryo(s) are carefully placed into the uterus with a thin-caliber catheter as the uterus and the catheter are visualized with abdominal ultrasound. The embryo transfer truly is a special event for the couple.
Since the woman who has just had an egg retrieval does not ovulate during the IVF cycle, the ovaries do not produce estrogen and progesterone as they normally would after ovulation. Estrogen and progesterone medication is given to support the uterine lining after egg retrieval and through the time of embryo transfer until the pregnancy test. With a positive pregnancy test, the patient continues estrogen and progesterone supplements until 10 weeks of gestation, at which time the medications are discontinued since placental estrogen and progesterone production is well underway at that point.
After embryo transfer, if there are surplus embryos that are good quality blastocysts, they can be cryopreserved for the future. The embryologists at Westlake IVF cryopreserve embryos by means of vitrification, which is a fast-freeze protocol. The vitrification of good quality blastocysts results in a high freeze-thaw survival rate.
Some indications for IVF include tubal factor infertility, male factor infertility, severe endometriosis and unexplained infertility. Each patient’s IVF protocol is individualized based on age, ovarian reserve testing, and previous responses to fertility medication.
In cases where semen analysis parameters (such as sperm concentration, motility, or morphology) are low or in cases of unexplained subfertility, there is concern about the ability of sperm to fertilize the egg. In such circumstances, ICSI can be performed by our embryologists in order to optimize the opportunity for fertilization. ICSI is the process by which the embryologist uses an instrument called a micropipette and injects a single viable, motile sperm with a normal appearance into a mature oocyte while looking with a microscope. On average, ICSI is associated with fertilization rates of 50-70%; some couples may have even higher fertilization rates. Since one sperm is needed per mature oocyte injected, ICSI is a highly effective method to achieve fertilization in the cases of very low semen parameters and may be considered for cases of unexplained subfertility.
For an embryo to implant into the uterus, the embryo must first “hatch” from its covering which is known as the zona pellucida. As the embryo grows, it expands and, as a result, the surrounding zona pellucida becomes thinner. As the zona pellucida thins, it eventually has an opening from which the embryo hatches out of the covering and then can interact with the endometrial lining in order to have an opportunity at implantation. Assisted hatching is the artificial thinning or opening of the zona pellucida with the goal of increasing the chances for implantation and successful pregnancy. Existing research shows that assisted hatching may help with implantation and clinical pregnancy rates in women who are > 38 years of age, in those undergoing frozen embryo transfer cycles, and women who have not been pregnant after several IVF cycles. Traditionally, assisted hatching has been performed by using mechanical or chemical means; more recently, laser-assisted hatching (LAH) has been used for this process. Our IVF laboratory’s embryologists perform LAH equipped with state-of-the-art laser technology.
Embryos can be tested to evaluate for karyotype/chromosome number [Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy (PGT-A)], for specific diseases due to gene mutations [Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Monogenic Disordrers (PGT-M)], and/or for chromosomal translocations [Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Structural Rearrangements (PGT-SR)]. In order for genetic analysis of an embryo to be performed,“trophectoderm biopsy” is performed at the blastocyst stage of embryonic development, which embryos may reach by day 5, day 6, or much less commonly on day 7 of growth, in order to obtain cell(s) from the embryo’s potential placental cell population (trophectoderm), which can be genetically analyzed at a reference laboratory. Biopsied blastocysts are cryopreserved since it typically takes several weeks to receive trophectoderm biopsy genetic results from the reference laboratory, with the aim of obtaining desired results and then prepare for frozen embryo transfer (FET) with the goal of achieving live birth.
Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has long been used in first-trimester prenatal testing to screen for conditions such as fetal spina bifida, chromosomal abnormalities, and more recently, to help
Motherhood is an experience that no one has to miss out on, even if biological factors are interfering. At Austin Fertility & Reproductive Medicine, the physicians are able to offer services of a state-of-the-art in vitro fertilization (IVF) lab called “Westlake IVF”, used for assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Dr. Shahryar Kavoussi explains what those technologies are and what steps to take when considering treatment by a fertility specialist.
No frills vasectomy experience. Consultation over the phone to save you a trip. Out of the office within an hour of walking in.
...No frills vasectomy experience. Consultation over the phone to save you a trip. Out of the office within an hour of walking in.
Highly recommend for vasectomy procedure. Little to no pain post op and the procedure was done in under 20 minutes. Worst part was the numbing shot. Dr. Kavoussi is amazing!
...Highly recommend for vasectomy procedure. Little to no pain post op and the procedure was done in under 20 minutes. Worst part was the numbing shot. Dr. Kavoussi is amazing!
Great place. They are so professional and kind. We had a great experience. The facilities are well staffed and every time we went, we were encouraged to ask questions. The...
Great place. They are so professional and kind. We had a great experience. The facilities are well staffed and every time we went, we were encouraged to ask questions. The medical team spent so much time with us, making sure we had all our questions and concerns answered. They followed up each visit and we feel we received personalized care. We got the results we wanted 😉
After 10 years trying to get pregnant, we found Dr. SK Kavoussi. Everyone were so kind and we are very thankful to everyone there. Our babies were born in 2019,...
After 10 years trying to get pregnant, we found Dr. SK Kavoussi. Everyone were so kind and we are very thankful to everyone there. Our babies were born in 2019, and they are turning 7 years old on October 14. Thank you so much!
Dr. Kavoussi, Amy, Sarah & Staff, Words could never adequately express our gratitude for your role in helping us welcome our baby girl into this world. No one would ever...
Dr. Kavoussi, Amy, Sarah & Staff, Words could never adequately express our gratitude for your role in helping us welcome our baby girl into this world. No one would ever choose to go through infertility, but your practice made the difficult journey much less painful. Your kindness, compassion, skill & expertise were so appreciated. We often remarked that somehow we felt like your only patients. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us realize the long-awaited dream of parenthood.
Dr. Kavoussi, three weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed our baby into the world. He’s fat, blond, and perfect. We cannot express our gratitude for what you’ve done for...
Dr. Kavoussi, three weeks ago, my wife and I welcomed our baby into the world. He’s fat, blond, and perfect. We cannot express our gratitude for what you’ve done for us. Your expertise & compassion meant everything for us. The world is lucky to have people like you in it.
AFRM offers multiple financing options to help you start your family. Whether you need help paying for IVF or Egg freezing, our financing partners are there to help.
3 locations around Austin Texas to serve your fertility needs.
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