Invitro fertilization ( IVF ) is a technique in which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the woman's womb. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of achieving conception have failed . The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova ( eggs ) from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilize them in a fluid medium. The fertilized egg ( zygote ) is then transferred to the patients uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy.

The term in vitro, from Latin, is used, because early biological experiments involving cultivation of tissues outside the living organism from which they came, were carried out in glass containers such as beakers, test tubes, or petri dishes. Today, the term in vitro is used to refer to any biological procedure that is performed outside the organism it would normally be occurring in, to distinguish it from an in vivo procedure, where the tissue remains inside the living organism within which it is normally found. A colloquial term for babies conceived as the result of IVF is test tube babies.

Initially IVF was developed to overcome infertility due to problems of the fallopian tube, but it turned out that it was successful in many other infertility situations as well. The introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection ( ICSI ) addresses the problem of male infertility to a large extent

Assisted reproductive technology ( A.R.T. ) which includes ( IVF, ICSI, ZIFT, etc ) now provides hope for many infertile couples who previously could not be treated.

Basically the aim of ART treatments is to stimulate the ovaries to produce several follicles so that more than one egg can be retrieved during egg pick-up, fertilize them in the laboratory under strict and monitored conditions and put the fertilized egg back into the uterus, thus hoping to achieve a successful pregnancy in conditions where a natural pregnancy would be difficult or impossible to achieve.