IVF is most popularly known as test tube baby method. Its a method of assisted reproduction, a man’s sperm and the woman’s egg are combined in a laboratory dish, where fertilization occurs. The resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman’s uterus (called womb) to implant and develop naturally.
IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed. The term in vitro, from the Latin root meaning within the glass, is used, because early biological experiments involving cultivation of tissues outside the living organism from which they came, were carried out in glass containers such as beakers, test tubes, or petri dishes.
IVF is usually the treatment of choice for a woman with blocked, severely damaged, or no fallopian tubes. IVF is also used to overcome infertility caused by endometriosis or problems with the man’s sperm (such as low sperm count).
Infertility is the inability of a couple to become pregnant and have a baby (regardless of cause) after 1 year of unprotected sexual intercourse using zero birth control methods.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010 has been awarded to Robert G. Edwards “for the development of in vitro fertilization” yesterday.
