Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes all fertility treatments in which both eggs and sperm are handled outside of the body. ART procedures involve surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning the fertilized eggs or embryos to the woman’s uterus.
The most common and most effective form of ART is in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF means “fertilization in glass.” Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is another common procedure indicated for couples with male factor infertility and for those with failed IVF attempts. In ICSI, a single sperm is injected into a harvested egg, as opposed to conventional fertilization where the egg and sperm are placed in a culture dish together and the sperm fertilizes an egg on its own.