What are the steps for an ART cycle using fresh nondonor eggs or embryos?
Figure 5 presents the steps for an ART cycle using fresh nondonor eggs or embryos and shows how ART users in 2006 progressed through these stages toward pregnancy and live birth. An ART cycle is started when a woman begins taking medication to stimulate the ovaries to develop eggs or, if no drugs are given, when the woman begins having her ovaries monitored (using ultrasound or blood tests) for natural egg production. If eggs are produced, the cycle then progresses to egg retrieval, a surgical procedure in which eggs are collected from a woman’s ovaries. Once retrieved, eggs are combined with sperm in the laboratory. If fertilization is successful, one or more of the resulting embryos are selected for transfer, most often into a woman’s uterus through the cervix (IVF), but sometimes into the fallopian tubes (e.g., GIFT, ZIFT). If one or more of the transferred embryos implant within the woman’s uterus, the cycle then may progress to clinical pregnancy. Finally, the pregnancy may progre
