With the opening of the country’s two-child policy, the number of births in China in 2016 hit a 16-year high! Suddenly, the two-child policy was fully liberalized! But for couples in different situations, the second child is not a drop in the bucket if you want to have one. According to statistics, there are more than 40 million infertility patients in China, accounting for 12.5-15% of the population of childbearing age. One out of every eight couples is infertile. However, since the birth of the world’s first IVF in 1978, assisted reproductive technology has helped many families to have their little ones! Today, there are more than 5 million IVF babies in the world, and the first IVF babies in China are now entering their adult years and leading ordinary and exciting lives. However, there are still some misconceptions about IVF, such as: Is IVF really grown in a test tube? Is it painful to retrieve eggs? Many patients are confused when choosing IVF technology and think that the higher the generation, the better. In fact, each generation of IVF technology has its own indications, and different cases must choose different technologies, not like cell phones, the higher the number of generations the better! Today, Prof. Li Yuan will introduce you the difference between these IVF technologies! The first generation of IVF, also known as In Vitro Fertilization-Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET), is the earliest IVF technology to emerge. Essentially, the eggs and sperm are taken out separately and placed in a culture solution to allow them to fall in love and naturally fertilize and form embryos for transfer. If the woman has ovulation disorder, tubal obstruction or adhesion, endometriosis, low ovarian reserve, or unexplained infertility; or if the man has mild oligospermia or infertility from both partners, the first generation of IVF can be chosen oh. However, when the sperm is put into the droplet containing the egg, sometimes it is found that they do not “fall in love” properly, what should we do? This is where our second generation IVF technology comes in: a single sperm is injected into the egg to artificially help them fertilize, also known as intracytoplasmic single sperm injection (ICSI). It is mainly used for men with severe oligozoospermia, irreversible obstructive azoospermia or those who need preimplantation embryo genetic testing. However, some couples who are able to conceive naturally also have troubles: they are older, have had multiple embryonic stoppages or spontaneous miscarriages, carry abnormal chromosomes, and are at risk for genetic disorders. Then geneticists may recommend them to consider third generation IVF assisted technology for treatment. Third generation IVF is also known as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT). It involves removing one or more cells from multiple embryos, performing chromosomal or genetic testing, discarding embryos carrying abnormal chromosomes or genes, and transferring normal embryos so that the patient can have a healthy baby! As mentioned above, we now know that our IVF babies are not bounced out of the test tube, and regarding the question of “will egg retrieval be painful”, the fertility centers now generally use painless egg retrieval, which is safe, painless and quick to wake up, so don’t worry at all! So, generation two and three generations of IVF technology are selected on demand, each generation of IVF technology has its own indications and treatment scope, not the bigger the number the better!