Department of Reproductive Medicine - Sheba Medical Center Ramat Gan

About the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Sheba Medical Center Ramat Gan

The Department of Reproductive Medicine at the Sheba Medical Center Ramat Gan ensures high quality of all modern procedures for fertility treatment. One of the most popular methods for conception of a long-awaited pregnancy is in vitro fertilization (IVF). The department's specialists first performed the IVF procedure in 1982 and since then they have been successfully practicing it for couples who cannot conceive a child naturally. As of today, the department performs more than 1,000 IVF procedures annually, while the treatment success rates are one of the best in the world. During the therapeutic process, the patients are provided with maximum comfort, confidentiality and the highest quality of medical services. The Chief Physician is Prof. Dr. med. Raoul Orvieto.

The treatment is preceded by a consultation with the attending physician. He clarifies information about the duration of infertility, studies the anamnesis of a woman and a man, prescribes the necessary diagnostic tests, the results of which will become the basis for the development of an individual treatment regimen aimed at conceiving and carrying a pregnancy. A decisive role in the effectiveness of therapy is the precise determination of the causes of infertility, the elimination of which will help a woman to become pregnant. The IVF procedure is mostly indicated for couples who cannot conceive a child during a year of regular sexual activity without the use of contraceptives, women with hormonal disorders, which prevent the normal maturation of eggs and are not corrected by conservative treatment, women with fallopian tube obstruction. In the case of insufficient sperm motility and low sperm concentration in the male seminal fluid, IVF is also effective. If necessary, IVF can be performed using cryopreserved eggs and sperm in patients who have undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy or other treatments, which suppress ovarian or testicular function. The department also practices IVF using donor germ cells.

The process of artificial insemination consists of combining an egg and a sperm outside the woman's body, and therefore this technique is sometimes called "test tube fertilization". In most cases, the IVF procedure involves the use of the parents' own germ cells, which guarantees 100% genetic match. The unique experience and clinical skills of the department's fertility doctors allow the patients to conceive a pregnancy on the first try. In rare cases, repeated IVF may be required – this fact is determined at the planning stage of the procedure.

The IVF procedure consists of the following stages:

• Superovulation stimulation
• Follicular puncture 
• Oocyte insemination with specially prepared sperm
• Preimplantation genetic diagnosis before embryo transfer into the uterine cavity in order to exclude genetic pathologies
• Embryo culture (fertilized eggs grow and develop in a special nutrient medium for about 3-5 days, after which the doctor selects the highest quality embryos)
• Embryo transfer into the uterine cavity (usually 1-2 embryos are used)
• Pregnancy test for its confirmation

The department's range of medical services includes:

• In vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure
• Percutaneous sperm aspiration
• Assisted hatching
• Controlled ovarian stimulation
• Testicular sperm extraction
• Embryo cryopreservation
• Egg and sperm donation
• Microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration
• Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT)
• Correction of certain factors of infertility in women (for example, cysts, fallopian tube obstruction)
• Sperm count improvement in men
• Fertility preservation in cancer patients 
• Genetic counseling, including preimplantation genetic diagnosis
• Other diagnostic and therapeutic options