Reproductive Health

Assisted Reproductive
Technologies
What is Assisted Reproductive Technology?
• A collection of procedures, which includes the handling of
gametes and/or embryos outside the body to achieve a
pregnancy, is known as Assisted Reproductive Technology
• It increases the chance of pregnancy in infertile couples
• Prior 1978, infertile couples have two options : to adopt / be
childless
• Now, they are assisted to have child through special techniques
called ART
 ART Techniques

In vitro Techniques In vivo Techniques

• In vitro fertilization (IVF) • Intra-uterine insemination (IUI)
• Zygote intra-fallopian transfer • Artificial Insemination (AI)
(ZIFT) • Gamete intrafallopian transfer(Gift)
• Intra uterine transfer (IUT)
• Intra-cytoplasmic sperm
injection(ICSI)
• Surrogacy
1. Invitro fertilization (IVF)
• Also called as “Test tube baby technique”

• Fertilisation outside the body followed by embryo transfer

• Ova from the wife/donor (female) and sperms from the husband/donor (male) are
collected

• The eggs are combined with sperm in a liquid for fertilization in a laboratory.

• The fertilization of egg results in the formation of zygote (Invitro)

• The Zygote or Early embryos (with up to 8 blastomeres) could then be
transferred into the woman’s uterus, for further development
1. Invitro fertilization (IVF)
2. Zygote intra-fallopian transfer (ZIFT)
• It continues its natural divisions and develops
further Egg is removed from the ovary
• Fertilization of the egg with sperm is carried
out outside the body (IVF)
• The zygote up to 8 blastomeric stages is
transferred to the fallopian tube by
Laparoscopy
2. Zygote intra-fallopian transfer (ZIFT)
3. Intra uterine transfer (IUT)
• Embryo with more than 8 blastomeres is inserted into
uterus to complete its further development.
4. Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
• Sometimes the sperm cannot penetrate the outer layer, for a
variety of reasons.

• The egg’s outer layer may be thick or hard to penetrate

or the sperm may be unable to swim.
• In these cases ICSI can be done along with in vitro
fertilization (IVF) to help fertilize the egg.
• A single sperm is injected directly into the cytoplasm
of an ovum in the lab conditions.
4. Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
5. Surrogacy
• Surrogacy is a method of assisted reproduction or agreement whereby a woman
agrees to carry a pregnancy for another person, who will become the newborn
child's parent after birth.
• Through in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryos are created in a lab and are
transferred into the surrogate mother's uterus
Cryopreservation of Embryos
• Cryopreservation (or freezing) of embryos is often used when there are
more embryos than needed for a single IVF transfer.
• Embryo cryopreservation can provide an additional opportunity for
pregnancy, through a Frozen embryo transfer (FET), without undergoing
another ovarian stimulation and retrieval
1. Intra-uterine insemination
• This is a procedure to treat infertile men unable to
inseminate due to low sperm count
• The semen is collected either from the husband or from a
healthy donor
• Is introduced into the uterus through the vagina by a
catheter after stimulating the ovaries to produce more
ova.
• The sperms swim towards the fallopian tubes to fertilize the
egg
• It results in normal pregnancy (invivo fertilization in the body)
The goal of IUI is to increase the number ofsperm that
reach the fallopian tubes and subsequently increase
the chance of fertilization.
2. Artificial insemination
• Infertility cases either due to inability of the male partner to
inseminate the female or due to very low sperm counts in the
ejaculates, could be corrected by artificial insemination (AI)
technique
• Collected sperms from husband/ donor are artificially
introduced into the cervix
• Same as IVF
3. Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)
• A method for the female who could not produce egg
successfully but can provide suitable environment for
fertilisation and further development.
• Entrance of the oviduct/ upper segments of ovaries are
blocked.
• In this, ova and sperms are directly injected into the.
fallopian tube, where fertilization produced a blastocyst
• Blastocyst enters the uterus via normal route
• GIFT has 30% success rate
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3. Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)