If the road is blocked (blocked fallopian tubes) or the sperm is poor (poor quality, low quantity of sperm, azoospermia), Mr. Sperm cannot rush to the fallopian tubes and the egg lady, he can bypass the road by artificial means and complete the union of sperm and egg in a “Petri dish”, and then place the fertilized egg in the uterus to continue growing. This is called in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer, or “IVF”. The difficult journey of Mr. Sperm and Ms. Egg can cause infertility if anything goes wrong. There are two cases that require special attention: one is when the woman’s fallopian tubes are not open and the sperm are not able to travel up to the abdomen of the fallopian tubes to meet the egg, or the egg is not able to reach the abdomen of the fallopian tubes after being blocked; the other is when the man has poor semen quality and low sperm count (oligospermia) and does not have enough soldiers to travel the full distance to the destination. Both of these conditions can make the chances of Mr. Sperm and Ms. Egg meeting greatly reduced, if at all! Is it medically possible for Mr. Sperm to get past this obstacle and come directly to an Ovulation meeting with Miss Egg? The answer is yes, this is the assisted reproductive technology called “IVF”. What is IVF? The scientific name for IVF is “In Vitro Fertilization-Embryo Transfer” (IVF-ET for short). In simple terms, it is a process in which a group of primitive follicles (primordial follicles) in a woman’s ovaries are concentrated and encouraged to develop into mature follicles through medication, and when the eggs are mature, they are removed from the woman’s body through a small procedure known as ultrasound-monitored puncture. The embryos are then surgically inserted through the vagina and cervical canal into the carefully prepared cavity of the woman’s uterus, where they are allowed to continue growing and developing until full-term delivery. Can more than one embryo be implanted? Generally, only one embryo is implanted at the time of transfer, occasionally two embryos are implanted, but not more than three. Otherwise, multiple pregnancies can result if they all survive, which can be very risky. There was a news report about a woman in one country who gave birth to sextuplets, and it is reasonable to guess that this would be a consequence of the irregular use of IVF technology. If a woman does not want to have children or cannot have children in the near future for various reasons, the embryos that have been formed can be preserved by freezing technology and later placed in the uterine cavity when the opportunity is ripe. But how long can they be preserved? Or if they are eventually not used, what to do with the frozen embryos that are released more and more but are already living organisms is a tricky ethical question. Health questions about IVF? A common question is whether these “IVF” babies, created in vitro with the help of outside help by cutting out steps, are physically and mentally normal compared to natural children who have sex. Since IVF technology has not been invented for a long time and the first IVF babies have not yet reached old age, information on life expectancy is not yet available. However, current data show that there is no difference in the mental and physical development of IVF “created” children and natural children, nor is there a difference in the probability of major diseases. The fact that the world’s first test-tube baby was born not long ago says a lot.