requirementsfor ivf success

In-vitro fertilisation, or IVF – which comes from the Latin for "within the glass" – involves fertilising the egg cells with the sperm outside of the womb and then transferring the fertilised egg back into the patient's uterus.

For IVF to be successful, it needs a healthy egg, sperm that are capable of fertilising that egg, and a uterus which will be able to sustain a pregnancy.

Couples having difficulty conceiving are allowed a limited number of IVF cycles on the NHS and thereafter have to pay for private treatment which can cost from 4,000 to 8,000.

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The success rate of IVF treatment decreases as the woman gets older.

In 2006 – the latest statistics that are available from the NHS – 29 per cent of cycles resulted in a live birth for woman aged under 35, compared with just 11 per cent for women aged between 40 and 42, and less than one per cent for women aged over 44.

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