Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

Assisted Reproductive Technology is the umbrella term for any procedure that handles gametes and/or embryos outside the body specifically to help a couple achieve a pregnancy. It exists because so many of the causes of infertility surveyed in the previous section cannot be fixed directly — ART instead works around them. The chapter groups a wide set of procedures under this umbrella: intra-uterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryo transfer (ET), zygote intra-fallopian transfer (ZIFT), gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT), intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic diagnosis, oocyte and sperm donation, and surrogacy. The sub-sections that follow work through each of these in turn, distinguishing them mainly by what exactly is tra …