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Egg retrieval procedure for in vitro fertilization IVF

Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago
Gurnee & Crystal Lake, Illinois
IVF specialist clinic

The egg retrieval procedure is also referred to as egg aspiration, or egg pickup.

In order to get sufficient eggs for the in vitro fertilization process, the woman is stimulated with injected medications to develop multiple egg development. The injections are usually done by the woman, or by her husband. More about injectable medications

Sample IVF calendar showing the days the shots are given, office visits, egg aspiration, embryo transfer procedures

The eggs develop in fluid filled structures in the ovaries called follicles. Each follicle can be seen and measured by ultrasound and contains one microscopic egg.

Ultrasound photo showing multiple follicles (black circular structures) in an ovary stimulated for IVF

When the woman's follicles are mature (determined by ultrasound and hormone measurements), the egg aspiration procedure is performed to remove the eggs from the ovaries. Powerful anesthesia medications are given through an IV so that the woman is "out" during the egg retrieval procedure. She will not feel or remember anything. A needle is passed through the top of the vagina under ultrasound guidance to get to the ovary and follicles. The fluid in the follicles is aspirated through the needle and the eggs detach from the follicle wall and are sucked out of the ovary. The actual IVF egg aspiration procedure usually takes 5-10 minutes at our IVF clinic.

The fluid with the eggs is passed to the IVF lab where the eggs are identified, rinsed in culture media, and placed in small culture drops in plastic dishes. The dishes with the eggs are then kept in specialized IVF incubators under carefully controlled environmental conditions.

Egg retrieval ultrasound photo

The egg aspiration procedure in progress - an egg is being aspirated from a follicle
The needle is the bright white structure (right side) above the 3rd white dot from bottom
Ovary outlined in blue, top of vagina in red

The oocyte-cumulus complex is removed from the follicle when we aspirate the fluid through the needle. When all of the follicles have been aspirated, the woman is monitored closely for about 1 hour - after which she is discharged home.

Sperm is mixed with the eggs about 4 hours after the egg aspiration, or sperm is injected individually into eggs - called ICSI. The following morning we check the eggs for evidence of fertilization.

The embryos are cultured in the IVF lab for 2-5 more days in the lab before they are put into the woman's uterus with the embryo transfer procedure.

Fourteen days after the egg retrieval procedure, we take the woman's blood to test for HCG, the pregnancy hormone.