Fertility Treatments and Information

Below are some of the most common Fertility Treatments (click on each title for more detailed information and links to stories about that topic):

IUI

IUI - Intrauterine Insemination . Sperm that has been put through a centrifuge is injected into the woman's uterus using a catheter. IUI is relatively painless for most women and is done as an outpatient procedure. IUI is the same procedure used for Donor Insemination . IUI is also referred to as AI ( artificial insemination ) or AIH (artificial insemination - husband) and AID ( artificial insemination - donor )

IVF

IVF - In Vitro Fertilization . Aspirated ova are mixed with sperm in a petri dish. IVF can be combined with ICSI (see below), with egg donation and with sperm donation . Embryos created with IVF can also be used in embryo adoption.

IVF with ICSI

IVF with ICSI - Intracytoplasmic sperm insertion . A more sophisticated version of IVF frequently used with severe male factor infertility. A single sperm is injected directly into the egg. When obtaining sperm is very difficult, surgical sperm extraction methods such as MESA and TESE may be used.

IVF - FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer)

IVF - FET - Frozen embryo transfer . Embryos that were not transferred during the original IVF cycle can be thawed for future cycles. FET eliminates the need to start the ovarian stimulation cycle from the beginning, thus saving the woman a significant treatment cycle.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy - There are two main types of surrogacy. Gestational Surrogacy - when the surrogate mother carries a baby who has no biological connection to her and Traditional Surrogacy - when the surrogate mother is the biological mother of the baby. In traditional surrogacy, generally IUI is used for conception.

Male Infertility & Donor Insemination

Male Infertility & Donor Insemination - Useful information about understanding the results of a semen analysis ; treatment methods and personal experiences written by women and men and by children conceived using donor sperm. Links to additional information and resources.

Egg Donation & Egg Freezing

Donor Egg - When a woman's own eggs cannot be used. This process is always combined with IVF and may also be combined with surrogacy .

Egg freezing or oocyte...