The significance of this is that it became possible to treat males who had a great deficiency in their sperm count. It has to be realized that infertility in general is due to the male in 40 percent of the cases, in the female in 40 percent of the cases. In the remainder, there are usually bilateral causes. In summary, then, there has been a wonderful evolution and advance since IVF first became available. What may be painful to some is not to others.
Some patients can undergo the procedure without any medication at all.
Other individuals benefit from local anesthesia. Some prefer general anesthesia, the type you would have for a major operation. There seems to be a social component to pain, and the physician has to make an estimation of this situation in arranging for the patient's treatment. It is necessary to harvest eggs from the woman, as I mentioned before. After having stimulated the patient and making an estimate by hormonal measurements from the patient and by visualization of the follicle, which is the name of the little sac in the ovary in which the egg develops, the eggs are secured from the follicle with the benefit of an ultrasound.