Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART)

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Fertilizing the female patient’s retrieved eggs by sperm, outside of the body in the embryology lab.  Subsequently, formed embryos grow in the embryology laboratory culture medium in incubators with the goal in the lab being the growth of embryos to the blastocyst stage, which is the stage at which an embryo implants into the uterine lining in natural cycles; therefore, the blastocyst stage of embryonic development is the ideal stage for embryo transfer due to optimal synchrony between embryo and endometrium of the uterus. Options for embryo transfer include fresh (untested) embryo transfer, frozen (untested) embryo transfer, or frozen (tested) embryo transfer of a blastocyst that has had preimplantation genetic testing (PGT).

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which is the injection of a single sperm (with the best motility and morphology of available sperm in a semen sample of retrieved sperm) into the cytoplasm of an oocyte (egg) under the microscope in the embryology lab, may be performed by embryologists. ICSI is most commonly used, and clinically indicated, in cases of male factor due to the risk of no/low fertilization rate without ICSI. The ICSI process is also applied in cases of fertilizing frozen-thawed oocytes (eggs), due to the freezing of oocytes resulting in hardening of outer shell of the oocyte (egg), which is called the zona pellucida, which the sperm likely would not get through to fertilize the thawed oocyte (egg) if conventional IVF were performed. Although not clinically indicted if semen parameters are in good range, ICSI may be considered in cases of unexplained subfertility or in cases where a couple has not had evidence of fertilization together in the past.

Assisted Hatching

Opening the covering (zona pellucida) around the embryo in order to help it “hatch” and increase the chance of implantation, has shown to be helpful in certain cases, most commonly in cases of embryo biopsy if the embryo is not yet hatching, in order to access cells for biopsy, as well as in cases of frozen-thawed embryo transfer, due to the hardened outer shell called the zona pellucida.  This procedure is performed under the microscope with a pinpoint laser that specifically creates an opening in the zona pellucida.

Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT)

In certain cases, cells from the embryo which has grown to the blastocyst stage of embryonic development by day 5, day 6, or less commonly day 7 of growth in culture medium in the embryology laboratory, is biopsied and genetic analysis of an embryo can be performed prior to embryo transfer.

Learn about our IVF procedure provided at our state-of-the art Westlake IVF Austin facility.