IVF Cycle

One stimulated cycle of in-vitro fertilisation: medication to grow multiple eggs, a short procedure to collect them, fertilisation in the laboratory, and transfer of an embryo to the uterus.

What a cycle involves

Ten to fourteen days of injections with several ultrasound scans to monitor the follicles. Egg collection is done under sedation and takes twenty to thirty minutes. Fertilisation may be conventional or by ICSI, where a single sperm is injected into each egg. Transfer happens three or five days later, or the embryos are frozen for a later cycle.

What affects the result

Age is the strongest factor, followed by ovarian reserve and sperm quality. Anyone quoting a success rate without knowing all three is quoting a clinic average, not your chances. We ask the clinic for a figure specific to your situation and give it to you in writing, including when it is low.

On cost

Medication is the part that varies most between patients, and it is quoted separately rather than folded into a headline figure. A single number that excludes your drugs is not a real estimate.

What we arrange around it

Around three weeks in the country for a fresh cycle, with the scans spread through it. Frozen transfer cycles are shorter and can often be timed for a second, briefer visit.