Oocyte recovery is a procedure that involves removing the oocyte or immature egg cell from a woman’s ovary for fertilisation outside her body.
Using ultrasound as a guide, our specialist inserts a long, thin needle through the wall of the vagina and into an ovarian follicle, making sure that they don’t injure any organs that are situated between the vaginal wall and ovary. On the other end of the needle is a suction device which gently sucks out cellular material, including the oocytes, and fluid from the follicle. This procedure is then repeated in the other ovary. Oocyte recovery takes 20 to 60 minutes to perform, with an estimated 20 oocytes obtained per procedure.
For better results, ovarian hyperstimulation is done prior to the procedure. This involves subcutaneous or intramuscular injections of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) 34-36 hours prior to oocyte recovery to stimulate maturation of the eggs.