IVM

In-vitro maturation (IVM): medication-free IVF method

IVM is an important and new method that has been a breakthrough in IVF technologies. Although it is a new method, it has medically proven itself and is a reliable technique. Currently, more than 1,000 babies have been born worldwide with this method. No health problems or genetic disorders have been detected in these babies.

IVM is applied in a limited number of reputable centers worldwide. Compared with other routine IVF methods, it requires a higher level of technology, professionalism, intensive effort, and patience; therefore, it has not yet come into widespread use in all centers.

By definition, without administering injections used for any ovulation treatment, small, that is, immature eggs are collected from the ovaries and matured under laboratory conditions (this stage takes 24–48 hours). Sperm is then injected into the matured eggs by microinjection, embryos are obtained, and these embryos are transferred.

There are three very important advantages for the patient. These are:

1-    Since no ovulation injections are used, it is much more advantageous financially.

2-    It is a method free from the side effects of treatments that stimulate ovulation; in other words, the excessive stimulation, that is, hyperstimulation, which can occasionally reach life‑threatening levels in IVF treatments, does not occur.

3-    It can be offered to patients more easily, with fewer ultrasound examinations and fewer follow-up visits.

Embryos obtained with the IVM technique can be analyzed with genetic diagnosis, that is, PGD, just as in conventional IVF techniques; advanced-stage transfer, that is, blastocyst transfer, can be performed; and surplus embryos from the treatment can be stored, that is, frozen, for later use.

Prof. Dr. Aygül Demirol is a leading figure successfully applying the IVM technique in Turkey and, by carefully selecting patients, has achieved highly acceptable pregnancy rates in different patient groups. She has published her work in scientific journals and given presentations on this subject at many national and international congresses.  Pregnancies and healthy births have been achieved with embryos obtained by this technique, frozen, and later thawed; with this case, an important success has also been achieved in Europe.