About IVF

Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database. ANZARD collects information from all accredited fertility clinics in Australia and New Zealand and is managed by the National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit at the University of NSW (Sydney). ANZARD includes information about all ART treatment procedures and the resulting treatment, pregnancy and birth outcomes. Its purpose is to monitor the safety, quality and effectiveness of ART treatments.

A collective term for treatments that handle eggs (oocytes) and sperm or embryos outside the body (in vitro) to produce a baby. ART includes in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

A birth is defined as a baby born after 20 weeks gestation and/or weighing at least 400g. A birth includes both live births and stillbirths. Births are counted as ‘birth events’, so the delivery of twins, triplets or higher is defined as one birth.

Often more than one embryo is created from the eggs collected during an egg retrieval cycle and these can be transferred over many months as part of one or more embryo transfer procedures (for example one fresh embryo transfer followed later by one or more frozen embryo transfers). A complete egg retrieval cycle includes embryo transfers that resulted from an egg retrieval procedure (fresh and frozen embryo transfers). There may be no fresh embryo transfers if there are no suitable embryos for transfer or if the decision was made on medical grounds to freeze all embryos.

The provision of professional assistance and guidance can be helpful in promoting the psychological and social wellbeing of individuals and couples undergoing fertility treatment. This service is offered by fertility clinics to reduce the impact of the emotional consequences and implications of fertility treatment.

The process by which embryos, eggs or sperm are frozen or vitrified to preserve them for future use.

Donated sperm is provided from a male who is not the partner of the woman undergoing fertility treatment.

The transfer of two embryos, at the same time, into a woman’s uterus.

The female reproductive cell.

A process in which a woman gives her eggs to another person to help them have a baby.

A procedure to collect eggs (oocytes) from the ovaries. It is usually done under ultrasound-guided transvaginal aspiration. Also known as an oocyte pick-up or OPU.

An egg that has been fertilised by a sperm and has undergone one or more divisions.

A procedure where either a fresh or thawed embryo is transferred into the uterus.

A relatively common disease in which the tissue that is similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus in other parts of the body, particularly in the pelvis. Endometriosis can contribute to infertility and common symptoms include painful periods and deep pelvic pain during sex.

A procedure where a fresh embryo that has not been cryopreserved (frozen) is transferred into the uterus.

A procedure where a previously cryopreserved (frozen) embryo is thawed/warmed and transferred into the uterus.

The period of time that a baby develops in the uterus. The average gestation of a pregnancy is about 40 weeks.

A laboratory method of fertilising an egg (oocyte) by injecting a single sperm directly into the egg.

A type of fertility treatment where the sperm sample is prepared in the laboratory and transferred using a fine catheter through the woman’s cervix and into the uterus. The transfer of sperm is timed to be around the time of ovulation and fertilisation occurs naturally inside the woman’s body.

The process of retrieving immature eggs from a woman’s ovaries and maturing them in a laboratory so that they can be fertilised to create embryos to transfer into the woman’s uterus. This is different to an IVF treatment cycle where the aim is to retrieve mature eggs which are already capable of being fertilised.

IVF is a form of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). It is a group of fertility treatments where eggs and sperm are joined together outside the body in a specialised laboratory. The fertilised egg becomes an embryo and is transferred into the woman’s uterus in order to achieve a pregnancy.

An IVF Clinic is an accredited fertility clinic, by the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand, that performs assisted reproductive technology treatments and reports its data to the Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database (ANZARD).

A live birth is defined as the birth of a baby after 20 weeks gestation and/or has a birthweight of at least 400g that shows signs of life.

Treatment that uses medications, usually in the form of injectable hormones, to stimulate the ovaries to develop multiple follicles in order to retrieve multiple eggs.

Preimplantation genetic testing

A test performed to analyse the DNA from embryos to determine the number of chromosomes in an embryo.

A test performed to analyse the DNA from embryos to identify genetic conditions at the level of a single gene in an embryo.

The birth of a baby prior to 37 weeks gestation.

A surgical procedure to retrieve sperm directly from the testes or the epididymis for use in ICSI.

An arrangement where a woman, known as the ‘gestational carrier’ agrees to carry a child for another person or couple, known as the ‘intended parent(s)’,with the intention that the child will be raised by the intended parent(s). The eggs and/or sperm used to create the embryo(s) in the surrogacy cycle are either from the intended parents or from a donor(s).

Damaged or blocked fallopian tubes which may contribute to infertility by stopping the sperm from meeting the egg or preventing the embryo from travelling down the tube and implanting correctly in the uterus. Common causes of tubal disease are endometriosis or a previous pelvic infection.