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The Infertility Marketplace:
Terms You Need To Know
Bureau of Consumer Protection Office of Consumer & Business Education
How Success Rates are Advertised
Terms You Need To Know
| In vitro fertilization (IVF) |
In this procedure, a woman's eggs are
retrieved and combined with sperm to fertilize in the laboratory. Any fertilized
eggs, called embryos, are returned to the uterus.
The steps in IVF are:
If all goes well, the next two steps are:
|
| Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) |
This procedure differs from IVF in that
retrieved eggs and sperm are injected into a woman's fallopian tubes where
fertilization can take place.
Because fertilization does not take place outside the body, there is no embryo transfer step in GIFT. |
| Egg Stimulation | This refers to the administration of fertility drugs to a woman to "stimulate" and increase egg production. |
| Egg Retrieval | This process involves the removal of an egg from the ovaries and follicles for subsequent fertilization through IVF or GIFT. |
| Fertilization | The retrieved egg is mixed with sperm, after which the egg becomes fertilized and forms what then becomes an embryo. |
| Embryo Transfer | After an egg and sperm fertilize in the laboratory, the newly formed embryo is transferred to the uterus. |
| Clinical Pregnancy | This is a pregnancy which has been confirmed by ultrasound or other clinical means. Prior to this point, a blood test or a urinary pregnancy test may indicate a pregnancy. Such tests look for human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG. If the blood or urinary tests indicate a positive reading, then the pregnancy is referred to as a "chemical pregnancy." Infertility service providers generally do not accept chemical pregnancies as anything more than an indicator because conditions other than pregnancy can account for a positive reading. |
| Live Birth | This refers to the actual live birth of one or more babies. In determining success-rate date using live births, the industry standard is to count a "live birth" as a single delivery, regardless of how many babies were born. |
For a list of all the FTC's consumer publications, contact: Public Reference, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC 20580; (202) 326-2222. Ask for a free copy of Best Sellers.
