ART 
(Assisted Reproductive Technology)

ART is the general term applied to all procedures where the oocyte (egg) is removed for a period of time from the woman's body.  

GIFT 
(Gamete IntraFallopian Transfer)

GIFT is the simplest of the ART procedures. It involves placing oocyte and sperm in the fallopian tube.  It can be done during a diagnostic laparoscopy or during a laparoscopy to assess or treat mild to moderate endometriosis. GIFT was a common procedure from 1985 - 1998. Improvements in IVF outcome and the avoidance of surgery with IVF have made GIFT less desirable. 

IVF 
(In Vitro Fertilization)

IVF involves the union of oocyte and sperm in the laboratory with the embryo returned, two to six days later, to the uterus.  This is the original ART procedure and was first done for tubal disease or severe endometriosis.  It is now often done for male infertility, including previous vas ligations, and for couples with unexplained infertility.  

ZIFT (day after retrieval) and TET (2 or 3 days after retrieval) involve return of the embryo to the fallopian tube rather than the uterus.  TET and ZIFT are done only in very select situations in our facility because of the increased expense involved and the need for a laproscopy to do the transfer.

ICSI 
(Inter Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection)

ICSI is done either for very low sperm counts or when sperm morphology is poor.  The ICSI technique injects a single sperm into an oocyte to achieve fertilization and an embryo.  This is done as part of an IVF procedure (see photos on home page) 

BLASTOCYTE CULTURE

This procedure involves culturing the embryo for 5-6 days in the lab before transfer to the uterus.  On average it does not improve the overall success rates for IVF.  Good prognosis patients do well with or without blastocyst culture.  In some couples, blastocyst culture may decrease the risk of multiple pregnancy.

Patients with a poor prognosis will have a poor outcome with or without blastocyst culture.  It is important to realize that blastocyst culture does not make embryos better. It does allow us to identify the embryos that are more likely to result in pregnancy and decrease the risk of multiple pregnancy.  For some patients this is a benefit that warrants the expense of three additional days of embryo culture.

Cryo Embryo Preservation

Grand Rapids Fertility is a Right to Life program. All embryos not transferred are Cryo preserved. Cryo preservation and Embryo thaw neither improve or worsen the prognosis for any embryo. Not all "embryos" are normal and many abnormal embryos do not survive the Cryo and Thaw process. Those embryos that do survive have as good or better prognosis than fresh embryos as they may be "selected" for their normality by the cryo/thaw procedure.

Cryo Sperm

The IVF lab offers Cryo Sperm Storage for cancer patients and soldiers serving in combat regions. We do not run a commercial sperm bank. Patients doing donor sperm cycles purchase sperm from commercial banks and may store up to 2 specimens in our facility for future use.

Cryo Oocytes

The IVF lab is evaluating protocols for embryo cryo preservation. Until recently the cryo preservation of oocytes has had only sporadic success. Several protocols have recently been trialed in limited studies which indicate that this procedure may have enough success for oocyte cryo preservation to be offered to patients. We hope to make oocyte cryo preservation available by late 2005.