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IVF can be used when:

• there are issues with the quality of a man's sperm
• a woman has blocked oviducts
• where one or both partners may pass on a serious genetic condition
• where donor sperm or donor eggs are being used

IVF involves the removal of one or more eggs from a woman's ovaries. These are then fertilised with sperm in a laboratory:

1. the mother is given FSH and LH, to stimulate the maturation of several eggs in the ovary
2. the eggs are collected from the mother and fertilised by sperm from the father in a culture dish in the laboratory
3. the fertilised eggs are incubated until they develop into embryos
4. at the stage when they are tiny balls of at least eight cells, one or two embryos are inserted into the mother's uterus (womb)

The development of microscopy techniques have allowed IVF treatments to be developed further.

Pre-inplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)

IVF is used in conjunction with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) where one or both parents is at risk of passing on a serious inherited disease to their children. PGD can be used to check for single gene disorders and chromosome abnormalities in developing embryos before they are implanted into the uterus.