As you’re going through any fertility treatment, it’s important to know the meaning of the many abbreviations, acronyms, and medical words.
HRC wants to ensure you understand all aspects of your treatment, and we have provided a detailed list of the need-to-know definitions.
Inserting sperm into your uterus, without having sex, in order to try and get pregnant.
You’ll hear people talking a lot about this protein hormone, as you’re often tested to check your levels of it during infertility investigations. AMH is a measure of ovarian reserve (the number of available eggs in your egg pool).
It’s important to realize that AMH levels do not correlate with your chances of conceiving spontaneously, but do correlate with the number of eggs retrieved during an egg retrieval for IVF and help guide the doses of medications used for ovarian stimulation.
ART is the umbrella term used to describe infertility treatments like IVF, which require both the egg and the sperm to be handled.
ART is the umbrella term used to describe infertility treatments like IVF, which require both the egg and the sperm to be handled.
A complex procedure to assist the IVF process that allows a fertilized embryo to ‘hatch’ from a layer of cells called the zona pellucida in the 4th day of its development, by creating a small hole in the layer – ‘hatching’ from these cells is how embryos attach to the uterus walls.
Azoospermia is the medical term when there’s no sperm present in a man’s semen.
Your body’s natural temperature when you’re rested. Tracking BBT can be used as a way to know when you’re at your most fertile, as ovulation can cause a slight increase in temp.
The medical term used to describe a very early miscarriage, before a pregnancy can be identified with ultrasound.
The term for the early stage of an embryo, 5-7 days after fertilization. The inner cell mass will become the fetus, and the outer cells (trophectoderm) go on to form the placenta.
A pregnancy that’s been confirmed by both an ultrasound showing either a heartbeat or gestational sac, and high levels of the pregnancy hormone HCG.
A fertility drug that stimulates the ovaries
The process of stimulating ovulation using fertility drugs such as Clomid, letrozole, or gonadotropins.
Freezing cells or tissue in order to keep it preserved for the future, as in freezing your eggs or embryos.
Using sperm from a sperm donor in order to get pregnant with IUI, IVF or other fertility treatment options.
A woman’s ovarian reserve refers to the quantity of her eggs, and diminished ovarian reserve means that the number of eggs available has declined. The size of the egg pool does not necessarily correlate with egg quality.
The medical term for when your baby grows outside of, instead of inside the womb. Most ectopic pregnancies occur in the fallopian tubes.
A simple surgical procedure to gather your eggs for treatment.
Your baby 2 – 8 weeks after fertilization takes place. Prior to this, the embryo is called a blastocyst, and before that, a zygote.
The final stage of IVF treatment, where your embryos are placed back into your uterus.
A medical condition affecting women, where tissue meant to grow inside the womb can grow elsewhere – often in the ovaries or fallopian tubes.
The female hormone you have that helps develop and maintain female sex characteristics
The bit of the female body where the egg travels from the ovaries, to the uterus.
The joining of your egg and your partner’s sperm, where the combination of both of your different genes takes place.
Thawed embryos are placed into your uterus after previously being frozen.
Small sacs with fluid inside that sit on your ovaries. There’s an immature egg inside each follicle, which grows and reaches its peak growth around the time of ovulation.
A hormone produced by the pituitary gland, which regulates the menstrual cycle in women and helps manage sperm production in men.
As with AMH levels, your FSH will often be tested during initial infertility tests – as it can determine whether or not egg reserves or sperm count is low, giving you an indicator of how your treatment will progress.
An egg or sperm cell. A cell that fuses with another cell during fertilization. These two cells carry the genetic and chromosomal information that initially forms a zygote (an egg that has been fertilized by sperm).
An infertility treatment where eggs are removed from the ovaries, and placed inside the fallopian tubes, along with male sperm, in order to get pregnant.
With gestational surrogacy, the child is not biologically related to the surrogate mother.
HCG is a hormone created by the placenta detected by some pregnancy tests. An injection of HCG is given before the egg retrieval procedure.
A hysteroscopy allows your doctor to see inside the uterus, mostly in cases of abnormal bleeding.
When a lone, high-quality sperm is injected straight into the egg during IVF, rather than allowing the sperm and egg to find one another in the dish.
A very early stage in pregnancy, where the blastocyst (early embryo) is attaching to the wall of the uterus.
This Latin term refers to any medical process that takes place outside of a human body, for example in a test tube or petri dish.
An egg being fertilized by sperm outside the body.
Surgical procedure allowing doctors to look at the organs in the abdomen and pelvic region – including the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes.
Similar to FSH, this is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland that monitors ovaries in women and testes in men.
Part of the menstrual cycle where the uterus lining thickens in order to prepare for pregnancy, which happens after the ovaries have already released an egg.
An injectable medication that stimulates the ovaries to help produce eggs.
A medication that improves insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control that can help support fertility.
IVF with a smaller dose of fertility-boosting drugs.
IVF without use of fertility drugs to stop the natural production of eggs.
A potential complication of fertility drugs that affects the ovaries, and can occasionally become quite serious.
An egg cell – which after undergoing meiotic division can become a fully-fledged ovum.
Another term for eggs.
Characterized by elevated androgens (male hormone), reduced insulin sensitivity and numerous cysts on the ovary. Elevated androgens can lead to infrequent or irregular ovulation.
A pregnancy hormone that assists in stimulating the uterus.
The hormone produced by the pituitary gland responsible for producing milk after giving birth. Elevated prolactin levels can lead to irregular periods and reduced fertility.
The official term for separating individual sperm from semen. This usually takes place after the woman has had her eggs retrieved during IVF/ICSI treatment.
A simple procedure where sperm is aspirated from the testicles using a needle. TESA is used when a man’s sperm doesn’t come out during ejaculation, or they’ve previously had a vasectomy.
Done for the same reasons ast TESA, a surgical procedure where sperm is extracted from the testicles. Like with aspiration, this involves a small incision in the testicles and is done in a hospital.
A traditional surrogate either undergoes IUI or IVF with sperm from the male or sperm donor. The surrogate provides the eggs and is genetically related to the child.
An infertility test designed to evaluate the fallopian tubes. This may include HSG and HyCoSy. These tests use an x-ray or ultrasound examination to determine if the fallopian tubes are blocked or damaged in any way, and are the cause of fertility issues.
The sex organ where your baby will be carried. ‘Uterus’ and ‘womb’ both refer to the same organ.
In IVF, vitrification refers to a type of cryopreservation (freezing) of embryos. Vitrification is ‘ultra-rapid freezing’ compared to the traditionally-used process of slow-freezing.
A similar procedure to GIFT, eggs are removed from the ovaries and fertilized via IVF before being placed inside your fallopian tubes via a laparoscopy procedure.
The cell created by the joining of the sperm and the ovum. It’s the result of fertilization, and will eventually become a fully-fledged embryo.
