Dear Friends, 

July 25, 1978.

This is an important date in the medical history!

Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, was born in this day in England.

The name of this medical system is identified as an important discovery of modern scientific medicine. It is known as "INVITRO FERTILIZATION", which is popularly known as "IVF".

INVITRO FERTILIZATION means the mixing of a man's sperm with a woman's egg in a laboratory to form an embryo.
This method involves placing it safely back into the woman's womb and carrying it for ten months to give birth to a child.
We call this as  ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUE in medical terms. 

Procreation occurs when a man and a woman mix for a period of time in unprotected sex.
The male sperm enters through the female genital tract, passes through the uterus and mixes with the egg waiting for him in the fallopian tube to form an embryo. The fetus moved slowly. It is implanted in the uterus and grows into a baby. It is something that happens naturally. However, some couples are unable to conceive naturally

As women is growing by age, the number and quality of eggs in their ovaries declines. Especially after age 35 the number and quality decline rapidly.
Unlike men, women produce new sperm every day. Females are born with about ten million eggs while still in their mother's womb. By the time they reach puberty it is three lakhs.

Out of those 300,000 eggs, only 300 to 400 eggs are released per month throughout their breeding season. The menstrual cycle suggests the same.
In this way, every month an egg comes out and waits in the fallopian tube for a few days. If the egg is not fertilized by the sperm, it will be released as menstruation. 

If fertilization occurs with sperm, the embryo starts forming in the uterus. In some women, at a young age, the ovaries fail to properly develop eggs. This is called Premature Ovarian Failure. Such women do not produce an egg every month.

This makes it impossible for them to conceive naturally.
Premature ovarian failure can be detected by AMH (Anti Mullerian Hormone) test in women
If AMH levels below 1 mean that there are no quality eggs in their vagina.
A lack of quality eggs will not produce eggs properly.

And in some women it is congenital or due to infections that affect the fallopian tubes. Bilateral ductal obstruction also occurs. We call this as bilateral Fallopian tube blockage. Although there is a treatment called Fallopian tube recanulation, it is not easily accessible to many people.

Some men have a deficiency in sperm production, which is called oligospermia. Or even if the production is better. There is a problem in their movement (Motility defect). It can be seen that many of them have a structural defect in the sperm. It is obvious that IVF treatment gives good results to those who have this problem.

What is done in IVF treatment???

From the second to the tenth day of a woman's period, an injection is given daily to stimulate the development of eggs in her vagina. This is called FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone).
As a result the eggs will grow well. Some of those eggs are removed by injection into the groin.
At the same time sperm is obtained from the husband.
A critical few of these eggs are taken and placed individually in a laboratory dish called a petri dish and sperm are sprinkled on them.
Fertilization occurs when the sperm penetrates the outer wall of the ovum by itself.
(If the male sperm does not join the female egg
It is done by taking the sperm of the man and injecting it into the egg of the woman. This is called ICSI- named as (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection)
The ovum thus formed is implanted into the mother's womb within two to four days!
The fetus grows naturally in the mother's womb and the baby is born in the tenth month.
This is the test tube method called IVF.
The average success rate for this IVF method is 30-40%.
One in three attempts found to be great success.

Even if we fertilize outside and place it inside the uterus, sometimes there is a chance of miscarriage without implantation.
Also, the presence of problems such as obesity / polycystic ovarian disease in women is also a reason for treatment failure.
In this method of reproduction, the cost of trying to give birth to a child is two lakh rupees per cycle.
Expensive FSH injections administered from the second to the tenth day of menstruation;
These costs include the HCG injection used to extract the egg, the treatment to retrieve the egg, the laboratory effort to combine the sperm and the egg, the cost of the incubator to grow the embryo safely in the laboratory to the blastocyst stage, and then safely reinsert the embryo into the uterus.
I also record that the same medical procedure costs up USD 1,19,410 in USA.
Since only one embryo is implanted in the uterus many times the chances of success are low.
Two embryos are implanted into the uterus at the same time.
Either one or both will develop. Due to this, the possibility of having twins in test tube method increases.

What does the CDC study says on the success rates of IVF

A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in US found that treatment performed before age 35, had a 38.3% success rate.
At the age of 35-37, the success rate drops to 32%
For 38-40 year old, the success rate is 23.1%
It also mentions that only 10.4% success rate if over 40 years.
People with obesity/PCOD can increase the success rate of IVF if they follow a low-fat paleo diet and lose weight.

After 3 months of the World's first IVF Baby, Kanupriya Agarwal was born on 3 October 1978, India's first test tube baby and the world's second test tube baby. Around 60,00,000 test tube babies have been born in the world so far for 67,00,000 women

It would not be an exaggeration to say that this scientific advancement has brought joy to the lives of many as it helps them achieve the bond of motherhood that they desire.

This post is to create greater awareness on this and to those who have the chance to conceive using this medical method!