What is the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF)?

• A. Retrieving eggs and sperm, fertilizing them in a lab dish, and transferring fertilized eggs into the uterus.
• B. Inseminating sperm into the uterus during ovulation without lab fertilization.
• C. Placing embryos directly into fallopian tubes.
• D. Donor egg cycle only.

Answer: (A)

IVF involves retrieving eggs and sperm, fertilizing them in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the resulting embryos into the uterus. This process typically starts with stimulating the ovaries to produce multiple eggs, retrieving those eggs, fertilizing them in culture (often by mixing sperm with the eggs or using ICSI), allowing embryos to develop, and then placing one or more embryos back into the uterus for possible implantation and pregnancy.

The other descriptions describe different concepts: inseminating sperm into the uterus during ovulation without lab fertilization refers to intrauterine insemination (IUI), not IVF; placing embryos directly into the fallopian tubes describes a tubal embryo transfer, which is not the standard IVF approach; and a donor egg cycle only describes using donor eggs without detailing the fertilization and embryo transfer steps that define IVF.