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Explain test-tube babies. |
Test tube baby (In vitro fertilization IVF) is a revolutionary treatment for those couples who can't have a baby on their own because of various types of infertility. First developed by Dr. Patrick C. Steptoe and Robert G. Edwards of Great Britain (where the first "test tube baby was born under their care in 1978), the technique was devised for use in cases of infertility when the woman's fallopian tubes are damaged or the man's sperm count is low. A test tube baby is the term that refers to a child that is conceived outside the woman's body. The process is referred to as "in vitro" (outside the body) fertilization. The eggs are removed from the mother's ovary and incubated with sperm from the father. After fertilization, the "pre-embryos"are allowed to divide 2-4 times (in a "test tube", hence the name) and then returned to the mother's uterus where they can develop normally. Through these procedures, women with otherwise untreatable infertility problems have given birth to healthy babies. During IVF, a physician collects ova from the woman at the time of her ovulation, using a high-tech procedure called laparoscopy. In the next step the man's sperms and woman's egg are combined in a laboratory dish, where fertilization occurs. The resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman's uterus, for normal development in the uterus, or frozen for later implantation. Eggs can also now be frozen and fertilized later. The basic steps in an IVF treatment cycle are super ovulation (stimulating the development of more than one egg in a cycle), egg harvest, fertilization, embryo culture, and embryo transfer. |