IVF Without Two Weeks of Injections? Inside IVM

<p>What if eggs could be collected before they mature and developed outside the body, potentially reducing the medications, time and physical burden involved in conventional IVF?</p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode of <em>Knocked Up</em>, fertility specialist Dr Raelia Lew is joined by CREI fertility specialist Dr Violet Kieu to explore in vitro maturation, known as IVM.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unlike conventional IVF, where hormone injections are used to mature eggs inside the ovaries before collection, IVM involves retrieving immature eggs and completing part of the maturation process in the laboratory.</p><p><br /></p><p>Raelia and Violet take listeners inside the Melbourne IVF CAPA-IVM study, explaining how the procedure works, who may be suited to it and why researchers are particularly interested in its potential for patients with high egg numbers.</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>In this episode</strong></p><ul><li><p>What in vitro maturation is and how it differs from IVF</p></li><li><p>Why conventional IVF commonly involves hormone injections</p></li><li><p>How immature eggs can be matured outside the body</p></li><li><p>Who may be eligible for the Melbourne IVF CAPA-IVM study</p></li><li><p>Why patients with high egg counts may benefit from IVM</p></li><li><p>IVM for people with PMOS </p></li><li><p>Reducing the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome</p></li><li><p>How an IVM egg collection differs from a conventional IVF collection</p></li><li><p>The step-by-step process of maturing an egg in the laboratory</p></li><li><p>Why embryos created through IVM are frozen before transfer</p></li><li><p>The potential role of IVM in fertility preservation before chemotherapy</p></li><li><p>What international IVM research has shown so far</p></li><li><p>The limitations and unanswered questions surrounding IVM</p></li><li><p>Why age remains important when considering egg quality</p></li><li><p>The future of IVM and elective egg freezing</p></li><li><p>How fertility technologies move from scientific research into patient care</p><p><br /></p></li></ul><p><strong>Episode timestamps</strong></p><p><strong>00:00</strong> Could eggs be matured outside the human body?</p><p><strong>02:23</strong> Who may be a suitable candidate for IVM?</p><p><strong>03:36</strong> How an IVM egg collection works</p><p><strong>07:54</strong> IVM for patients with PMOS, PCOS or high egg numbers</p><p><strong>12:50</strong> Why IVM embryos must be frozen</p><p><strong>16:37</strong> Melbour