IVF Treatment - What to expect

Just before commencing an ART treatment cycle both you and your partner will be required to attend a final ‘pre-treatment’ consultation with your specialist where the relevant consent forms will be signed, your treatment plan explained and your questions answered. Prior to the visit the couple have ample time to read and consider the ART booklet we provide. All previous investigations and treatment are reviewed.

There are a number of stages involved in a treatment cycle and we begin with a summary then go on to provide a more in-depth explanation.

Summary - timeline

Although what follows is the most common approach, please note that treatment is individualised and this is therefore just an example...

1. Day 1 of the cycle: within a few days of the start of the period we ask that the patients phone the nurses, to arrange a registration visit at a mutually convenient time. Some (particularly those with irregular periods) will have Provera tablets which are taken from day 19 - once a day for 5 days.
2. Day 22 (or a day or two either side): attend for the arranged Registration visit, collect the analogue (Synarel nose spray or Lucrin injection) and continue this each day until 'triggering'.
3. 12 Days later (once again flexible) re-attend for a blood test to make sure the patients hormones, which may interfere with the synthetic hormones we intend to give, are low (we call this "down-regulated").
4. 6 - 8 Days later we arrange another blood test and/or ultrasound. We will then arrange an appointment, depending on the results, for a further blood test and/or ultrasound scan of the ovaries a few days later. If the hormones go too high we sometimes "coast" i.e. reduce or withhold stimulation until they return to normal. There is a 3 - 4 day 'window' when the eggs reach maturity so we have an ability to group most (but not all) of the egg collections for better results.
5. 'Triggering': once we know the patient is ‘ready’ we arrange the time for an "hCG trigger injection" and we schedule the egg collection 36 - 38 hours later.
6. Egg Collection Day: morning admission to the Day Surgery/Hospital. The usual stay is 3-4 hours. We also usually require fresh sperm that day. Thereafter we arrange hCG injections at 3 day intervals, on 3 occasions, OR progesterone pessaries, one each night.
7. 2 - 5 Days Later: embryos are transferred. Excess ‘suitable’ (healthy looking) embryos are usually frozen at this time.
8. 18 days after the egg collection: we do a blood pregnancy test if a period has not occurred