In-Vitro fertilisation, commonly referred to as IVF is a method of fertilisation primarily used by people that are incapable of having children naturally. The word “vitro” stems from the Latin root “vitrum” meaning “glass” and is named as such because the actual fertilisation occurs under laboratory conditions, traditionally in a beaker, test tube or other such lab equipment. The process involves removing an ovum or ova from a woman and then suspending it in a liquid along with sperm in order to fertilise them. Then the fertilised egg, known as a zygote is cultured in a growth medium for 3-6 days before being implanted back into the same woman, or, in the case of surrogacy another woman. From there, the average success rate is approximately 40% but this varies with age, health and other personal factors (MelbourneIVF, 2013). …show more content…
For example a woman may be unable to conceive due to blocked fallopian tubes, high levels of natural killer cells or hostile cervical mucus (which can be caused by something as simple as not drinking enough water or drinking too much milk). On the male side of things infertility can arise from low sperm counts, low sperm quality, hormonal imbalance or genetic defects. If the cause can’t be deduced or is considered untreatable and the person does not wish to adopt then IVF may be a viable