In
an IVF trial, the menstrual cycle is stimulated by administering
certain hormones.
To
increase the chances of success, the hope is to be able to replace
more than one embryo into the uterus. Since in a normal cycle,
only one mature oocyte is usually produced, in IVF, ovaries
are artificially
stimulated in order to enable us to retrieve several oocytes. This
procedure increases
the chances of obtaining fertilized eggs and good quality embryos
to be replaced into the womb.
In
order to freely control and manipulate the cycle, certain secretions
of the pituitary gland (located under the brain) will have
to be temporarily suppressed in order to avoid parasitic hormonal
interference
on ovarian
function. This is achieved by administering a specific inhibitor
of these secretions starting at day 5 of the cycle.
