infertility lingo

This will be useful for those of you just getting into infertility treatment and/or for those of you with a friend or family member suffering from infertility, hopefully.

• TTC = trying to concieve
• IUI = Intrauterine insemination is a procedure which involves placing sperm inside a woman’s uterus to facilitate fertilization. This fertility treatment does not involve the manipulation of a woman’s eggs, and therefore is not considered an assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedure.
• ART = Assisted Reproductive Technology
• IVF = In Vitro Fertilization is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish. When the IVF procedure is successful, the process is combined with a procedure known as embryo transfer, which is used to physically place the embryo in the uterus.
• GIFT = Gamete intrafallopian transfer is similar to IVF, but the gametes (egg and sperm) are transferred to the fallopian tubes rather than the uterus, and fertilization takes place in the tubes rather than in the laboratory. GIFT also involves a laparoscopic surgical procedure to transfer the sperm and egg into the tubes. GIFT accounts for approximately 2% of assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures in the United States.
• ZIFT = Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer differs from GIFT in that the fertilization process still takes place in the laboratory versus the fallopian tubes. It is similar to GIFT in that the fertilized egg is transferred into fallopian tubes, and it involves a laparoscopic surgical procedure. ZIFT accounts for less than 1.5% of assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures in the United States.
• FET = Frozen Embryo Transfer (Frozen embryos are sometimes referred to as snowflakes.)
  
•