The IVF laboratory

The IVF-laboratory is the heart of the IVF-clinic. Here is where we carefully handle eggs, sperms and embryos. Increased knowledge of details in the process at the laboratory has significantly improved chances of a pregnancy after an IVF-treatment.

Among the most important progress made at the IVF-laboratory is the development of nutritional solutions in which eggs, sperms and embryos are kept during the cell division process. Embryologists work with sequential media which are replaced after 2-3 days and which differ in content depending on the development stage of the embryo.

Knowledge about the normal embryo development and its variations have also increased dramatically since IVF was introduced in Sweden in the 1980s. Thanks to Single-Embryo-Transfer it is now possible to compare implanting  embryos leading to pregnancy with embryos that don’t lead to pregnancy. The embryos that have the highest quality (so called “good quality embryos”) are selected for transfer or for storing.

The possibility to store frozen embryos and blastocysts is another important piece of progress at the IVF-laboratory. This technique has considerably facilitated the treatment process for the woman without compromising the pregnancy results, which are on pair with the pregnancy results of freshly transferred embryos. Vitrification, a new technique to store non-fertilized frozen eggs, has simplified the treatment process even further. Egg banks can be created at the time of donation, for example. Another example of a simplification, for women who are about to undergo chemotherapy, is that they can store healthy eggs for the future.

The latest development of new techniques has made IVF even more precise. The laboratory handles that which is to become life and future generations which requires the utmost skill, delicacy and quality control.