Clinic Services

The Pacific In Vitro Fertilization Institute offers all levels of fertility services from basic evaluation and diagnosis to the most advanced reproductive technologies. Listed below are services that are performed at our clinic.
Click for a glossary of In Vitro terms.

In Vitro Fertilization
In Vitro Fertilization is a method of assisted reproduction in which the man's sperm and the woman's egg (oocyte) are combined in a laboratory dish (petri dish), where fertilization occurs. The resulting embryo is then transferred to the uterus to develop naturally. Usually, two to four embryos are transferred with each cycle.

IVF with Donor Eggs
Women who have poor quality or no eggs of their own for fertilization, and have a healthy uterus, are candidates for donor egg IVF. This procedure is the same as a regular IVF cycle; except eggs of a donor are fertilized with the partner’s sperm and the resulting embryo(s) are transferred into the female partner’s uterus. This process of donor egg IVF has an extremely high success rate.

Gestational Surrogacy
In the gestational surrogacy procedure, the gestational surrogate acts as an “incubator” for the pregnancy. Gestational surrogacy is appropriate when normal embryos can be formed, but is necessary for these embryos to develop within the uterus of a host rather than the egg source (female partner).

Gestational surrogacy may be thought of as a logical extension of the IVF process for a woman who has functioning ovaries, but does not have a uterus. Women who have experienced multiple miscarriages, or one who has been advised by her doctor not to become pregnant because of other medical conditions may be candidates for gestational surrogacy.

Egg Retrieval
After the ovaries have been stimulated with fertility medications, the resultant eggs (oocytes) are then obtained by a procedure called an egg retrieval. This is a non-surgical procedure in which trans-vaginal ultrasound is used to guide the needle aspiration of eggs from the ovarian egg sacs called follicles. Although the procedure takes only a few minutes, sedation is administered for greatest patient comfort.

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a micromanipulation technique developed to help achieve fertilization for couples with severe male factor infertility or couples who have had failure to fertilize during a previous in vitro fertilization attempt. This procedure overcomes many of the barriers to fertilization and allows couples to obtain embryos.

The procedure requires that the female partner undergo ovarian stimulation with fertility medications so that several mature eggs develop. These eggs are then aspirated and incubated under precise conditions in the embryology laboratory. The embryologist, using very precise maneuvers, then picks up a single live sperm in a glass needle (pipette) and injects it directly into the egg.

Assisted Hatching
The technique of assisted hatching was introduced to enhance the embryo’s ability to hatch, and thus implant, after transfer. Assisted hatching involves the thinning of the zona pellucida (outer shell) of the fertilized egg, prior to transfer into the uterus. It is believed that this outer shell becomes thicker and hardened with aging of the oocyte. As such, women of advanced age or with an elevated FSH level may have a decreased chance for embryo implantation. Women with endometriosis and poor quality embryos may also have this problem.

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique that helps couples minimize the risk of miscarriage and genetic defects. It can also assist couples who have repeatedly unsuccessful IVF cycles by screening embryos for genetic defects before the embryos are transferred into the uterus. Only embryos that appear normal are transferred. This process increases the chance of pregnancy and likelihood of a healthy baby and decreases the possibility of miscarriage.

PGD is performed as part of an In Vitro Fertilization cycle where eggs are produced and retrieved from the ovaries of the female partner, and fertilized with the male partner’s sperm in the laboratory to create embryos. When the embryos reach the 8-cell stage (3 days after egg retrieval and fertilization), one cell is carefully removed microscopically from each embryo through a procedure called embryo biopsy. These cells are then analyzed to determine which embryos are free of genetic abnormalities.

Candidates for PGD:

Women age 35 and over (increased risk for age-related chromosomal disorders)
Carriers of sex-linked genetic disorders
Carriers of single gene defects
Women with recurrent miscarriages
Couples with repeated unsuccessful IVF cycles
Couples with unexplained fertility

Embryo Transfer
When the embryo has grown to a certain stage, it is placed into the uterus. This procedure is much like a pap smear and does not require any anesthesia and is usually painless. The embryos are placed in a small amount of fluid inside a catheter, which is then passed through the cervix and placed inside the uterus.

Blastocyst Stage Embryo Transfer
An advance in infertility treatment involves growing the embryos in the laboratory to a blastocyst stage before they are transferred into the uterus of the female patient following an in vitro fertilization cycle.

In this process, the embryo is cultured for an additional 2-3 days to an advanced stage of embryo development before it is transferred to the uterus. Advantages of a blastocyst transfer is that the transfer occurs closer to the natural time that an embryo enters the uterus when the uterine lining may provide a better environment for the embryo. It also allows the embryos to develop in the laboratory for a longer period of time. Only higher quality embryos usually will develop into blastocysts.

Since blastocyst embryos have a higher rate of implantation, only two embryos are required for transfer. This also allows for more embryos to be cryopreserved (frozen) for future use and prevent high order multiple pregnancies (more than twins).

Cryopreservation of Embryos
Embryo freezing is a well-established form of assisted conception treatment where Pacific IVF will freeze spare embryos from a fresh IVF cycle. With the availability of frozen embryos, the patient will not have to undergo stimulation by fertility drugs in order to have to have an embryo transfer during IVF at a later date. Embryo cryopreservation provides the opportunity to have additional embryo transfers through an FET (frozen embryo transfer) cycle without the inconvenience and expense of a full IVF cycle.