In vitro fertilization, commonly known as IVF, is the process of combining a woman’s eggs and a man’s sperm in a fertility lab.
At Valley, each person’s infertility treatment is individualized to the results of his or her fertility assessment. Your IVF timeline will depend on your cycle. We will discuss this timing with you as part of our initial conversations about the process.
IVF Procedure at Valley
- For your convenience, we offer an online class that explains the IVF process.
- IVF is performed by obtaining multiple eggs from the woman.
- The woman will need to take hormone injections to create multiple mature eggs. These medications carry some risks, so we closely monitor our patients throughout the process.
- Once the eggs mature, they are removed via egg retrieval in an outpatient, same day procedure.
- The mature eggs are then combined with either the partner’s sperm or donor sperm.
- We check for evidence of fertilization one day after the eggs are removed. If the eggs have fertilized normally, they are now called embryos.
- The embryos are monitored for the next five days. If you wish to conduct preimplantation testing (PGT), we would perform the biopsy at this time.
- After the embryos are monitored, we can either place an embryo inside a woman’s uterus or cryopreserve an embryo for future use, e.g., if we are awaiting results from the genetic testing.
IVF Techniques at Valley
IVF at Valley may be used with the following techniques:
- Assisted hatching: At Valley, we use laser-assisted hatching for greater success helping embryos hatch.
- Blastocyst transfer: We culture embryos to an advanced stage to increase the chance of pregnancy while decreasing the chance for high-order multiple pregnancies.
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): While many centers require ICSI with IVF, at Valley, you can choose whether to use ICSI or natural fertilization.
- Microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration (MESA): Directly removing sperm from the epididymal tubule.
IVF Success Rates at Valley
- IVF success rates are primarily dependent on the age of the egg — regardless of whether they are fresh or frozen.
- Valley has excellent success rates using both fresh and frozen eggs. In fact, our IVF success rates per frozen cycle are higher than the national average for all age groups — from under 35 to over 42.
- For the latest results available for IVF cycles performed at Valley, please visit the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART)’s Valley clinic summary report.
IVF Cost
- At Valley, we have a dedicated financial team to advise you — before you make an appointment — on your individual insurance and financial options. This includes what out-of-pocket costs you will likely have.
Why Choose Valley for IVF?
- State-of-the-art embryology lab: Our lab offers low-oxygen benchtop incubators. These smaller incubators help eggs stay at the optimal temperature and environment to most closely mimic the human body. Eggs at Valley are frozen using vitrification for greater success rates. Vitrification is a flash-freezing method that is the standard in egg freezing.
- One-on-one attention: We offer individualized treatment plans to fit your fertility needs and wishes. Our reproductive endocrinologists and nurses are part of your diagnosis, treatment and routine monitoring.
- Our outcomes: We offer genetic testing for greater success with embryo transfers. For IVF frozen cycles, our success rates are higher than the national average in all age groups — from under 35 to over 42.
- LGBTQ family building: We have extensive experience with LGBTQ couples in creating families. We offer artificial insemination, IVF, egg donation, sperm donation and gestational carriers to assist you in building your family.
