What is In Vitro Fertilization?

In infertile couples where women have blocked or absent fallopian tubes, or where men have low sperm counts, IVF offers a chance at parenthood of a “biologically related” child.

In IVF, eggs are surgically removed from the ovary and mixed with sperm outside the body in a Petri dish.  After about 40 hours, the eggs are examined to see if they have become fertilized by the sperm and are dividing into cells.  These fertilized eggs (embryos) are then placed in the women’s uterus, thus bypassing the fallopian tubes.