Considered the most invasive of all fertility treatments, zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) is the choice of less than one percent of people who turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART). Still, the method can work well for some couples — about 240 ZIFT babies are born each year in the United StatesThis procedure is similar to GIFT. The main difference is that your eggs are fertilized in a laboratory before they're inserted into your fallopian tubes. Near the beginning of your menstrual cycle, you'll take a fertility drug that stimulates your ovaries to develop several mature eggs for fertilization. (You normally release only one egg a month.) You may also have to take a synthetic hormone, either a GnRH agonist, such as Lupron, Synarel, or Zoladex, or an antagonist, such as Ganerelix or Cetrotide, to keep your body from releasing your eggs too early. You'll visit your doctor's office or clinic often so she can monitor your eggs as they mature by performing ultrasounds and checking your blood hormone levels. Once your eggs are mature, your doctor will give you an anesthetic and remove them from your ovaries by inserting a needle through your vaginal wall, using an ultrasound to find your eggs. Your doctor will then combine your eggs with your partner's sperm in a dish in a laboratory and monitor them closely to make sure fertilization occurs. About a day later, each of your fertilized eggs will be a ball of cells — a developing embryo called a zygote — and you'll have minor surgery. Your doctor will insert one to four zygotes into your fallopian tubes through a small incision in your abdomen, using a fiber-thin tube called a laparoscope. Extra zygotes, if there are any, may be frozen in case this cycle doesn't succeed. If the treatment works, a zygote will travel through your fallopian tube and implant itself in your uterus, where it will grow into a baby. In about 35 percent of ZIFT pregnancies, more than one embryo implants and women give birth to multiples. You'll be able to take a pregnancy test about two weeks after you have surgery

Answered by ayisha , an ibibo Master, at 7:31 AM on November 03, 2007

Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) is technique in which a woman's egg is fertilized outside the body, then implanted in one of her fallopian tubes. This technique is one of the methods used to overcome infertility, the inability of couples to produce offspring on their own. This procedure involves the placement of the single-celled embryo or "zygote" directly into the fallopian tube utilizing a laparoscope. The rationale for this procedure is that the zygote is normally fertilized in the fallopian tube and hence implantation may be enhanced in some cases following ZIFT. As in IVF and GIFT, ZIFT involves ovarian stimulation, monitoring and egg retrieval. Ideally, to ensure the greatest possibility of success, several eggs, or ova, are collected and fertilized at a time. In preparation, the ovaries are stimulated with hormones to release several mature eggs at once. At the optimal time, eggs are collected using one of two retrieval techniques: ultrasound or laparoscopy. The ultrasound retrieval method is performed in the doctor's office. The doctor places a needle inside a guide which is attached to an ultrasound vaginal instrument. After the patient receives a local anaesthetic, the doctor uses the ultrasound instrument to locate the follicles containing the eggs. Then the doctor gently guides the needle through the vaginal wall and aspirates the fluid containing the eggs into a small tube. The maleîs sperm are collected, specially prepared, and combined with the eggs in a special medium that contains the nutrients similar to those found in the uterus. After a day, during which fertilization takes place, the fertilized eggs are evaluated, transferred to another dish containing a suitable solution, and allowed to grow. With ZIFT, the embryos are just grown in the lab for a day and are transferred back the day after retrieval. In conventional IVF, the transfer is conducted either three or five days after retrieval. The fertilized eggs, or pre-implantation embryos, are evaluated for normal development and are then transferred into the fallopian tubes using a laparoscope. This procedure may be performed in the office under sedation and local anaesthetic, or in short-stay surgery if an epidural or general anaesthetic is desired. You may also hear the ZIFT procedure referred to as tubal embryo transfer (TET). Another slight difference between IVF and ZIFT (besides the stage of the transferred embryo) is the location where the embryos are placed in the woman's body. With IVF, the embryos are placed directly into the uterus. With ZIFT, however, the zygotes are placed directly into the fallopian tube. Therefore, a criterion for performing ZIFT is that the female partner has at least one open and functioning fallopian tube. One disadvantage with ZIFT is that the transfer of the zygote must be performed through a laparoscope. This involves a surgical incision, whereas with IVF, the fertilized eggs are transferred through the vagina without the need for any incisions. Although laparoscopy is a minor surgical procedure, it still adds to the complexity, risk, and cost of the entire process. ZIFT requires that the woman have at least one functioning fallopian tube. Therefore, ZIFT is not an option in women with infertility caused by tubal problems. However, like IVF, it is possible to determine whether fertilization has taken place. The obvious advantage of ZIFT is that ZIFT uses zygotes, not an egg and sperm mixture. Essentially GIFT and ZIFT are analogous procedures, however their specific features justify their utilization in different circumstances. Patients with failed GIFT procedures or in cases where there's some doubt about the sperm's ability to fertilize the egg, ZIFT may be a better option than GIFT. With ZIFT, fertilization is documented prior to replacement of the zygote into the fallopian tube. ZIFT may be indicated if additional procedures need to be implemented to fertilize the oocytes such as in case

Answered by Rajib Gurung , an ibibo Master, at 1:12 AM on November 03, 2007