During the IVF treatment, eggs are extracted from the ovaries.
This is known as an egg retrieval. There is a lot of preparation for that day and a lot of
things are going on behind the scenes in the IVF lab. In the next few episode of InfertilityTV,
I will tell you what to expect on this exciting day and show you what happens in the IVF lab
The day before your egg retrieval, the embryologists are already hard at work.
They are preparing the dishes where your eggs and embryos will be staying for the next several days
and the media they will be soaking in. The media will be placed into an incubator so that it is
at the correct temperature and pH by the time of the egg retrieval the next day
Having everything at the correct temperature is very important for IVF. On the day of the
egg retrieval, the embryology team comes in early and starts turning everything on so it is at the
correct temperature by retrieval time. This is also true in the egg retrieval procedure room.
The test tubes which will be used to collect the fluid from the follicles
are placed in special warming blocks. The embryology will bring in a few tubes of media
and place them in the blocks. More on that later.
The procedure staff will set up a sterile area where the doctor will work. An IVF
aspiration needle is opened, connected to a test tube and to a suction pump.
The ultrasound machine is brought over and the vaginal
ultrasound probe is covered with a sterile cover and a needle guide is attached.
Once the patient arrives, she is administered the anesthesia and placed into position for the
egg retrieval. The IVF doctor now uses those tubes of media to flush the egg retrieval
needle and tubing to remove any toxins that were produced in the manufacturing process.
The ultrasound probe is placed into the vagina and the ovary is visualized. The aspiration
needle is advanced through the guide, through the wall of the vagina and into the ovary.
Once the tip of the needle is in a follicle, the doctor activates the suction pump and the fluid
is aspirated into the test tube. Depending on the size of the follicle, this may be repeated
a few times before the tube is filled. The tube is then brought to the embryologist.
The embryologist works inside of an IVF isolette. This provides a space where the temperature,
humidity and composition of the gas can be controlled. The isolette has an
integrated microscope and arm holes for the embryologist.
The fluid from the test tube is emptied into a laboratory dish.
The dish is scanned under the microscope. Within the fluid are millions of tiny cells from the
follicle called granulosa cells. The embryologist will search around to look for the egg.
Once it is found, it is placed into another dish with media as the search for more eggs continues.
Once the doctor has aspirated all of the follicles,
the patient is awakened and taken to the recovery area.
The eggs are placed into an incubator for a few hours. During this time, either a semen specimen
is collected and prepared or previously frozen sperm is thawed. The eggs are removed from the
incubator, if they are still covered with cells, then those cells are stripped away.
This provides the embryologists with their first really good look at the eggs.
Only now can they determine whether the eggs are mature. Each mature egg is then injected
with a single sperm under the microscope. The injected eggs are returned to the incubator
until the next day when they will be inspected to determine if they have achieved fertilization.
Fertilized eggs are then allowed to develop in the incubator
and in several days they can either be transferred or frozen. If you enjoyed
this episode, check out our video about Embryo Transfer Day to see what happens on that day