Antega South Africa · Learning Videos
Dr Jack Biko, President of SASREG, gives a plain introduction to what IVF involves from the first stimulation injection to the pregnancy test.
A typical IVF cycle runs roughly like this: a few weeks of preparation and baseline tests; around eight to fourteen days of daily stimulation injections with scans and blood tests along the way; a trigger injection at a precisely timed hour; egg collection about 36 hours later under sedation; fertilisation in the laboratory that day, by conventional IVF or ICSI; three to six days of embryo development; then either a transfer or freezing of embryos; and about nine to fourteen days later a blood pregnancy test. Not every cycle follows that shape. Protocols differ — long agonist, antagonist, mild stimulation, natural cycle — and a cycle can be converted, cancelled, or planned as freeze-all from the outset. Use this talk for the overall map and your own clinic's plan for the detail.
Recorded at Fertility Show Africa in 2023. Protocols, timings and clinic practice vary; no two IVF cycles are identical, and your plan may differ from the one described here.
Use these guides for general background, and check the South Africa organisations named on this page for local detail.
Time-lapse imaging of a cohort of embryos growing in culture from roughly 18 to 112 hours, filmed in a South African academic IVF laboratory.
Genetic counsellor Kelly Loggenberg explains what preimplantation genetic testing is, the different types and who might be offered it.
Dr Mohamed Cassim goes through the points in an IVF cycle where things can fall short — egg and sperm quality, fertilisation, embryo development, the lining of the womb and implantation.
This video was produced by Fertility Show Africa Expert Talks (programme curated with IFAASA and SASREG) and is shared for education only. It is not medical advice and does not replace guidance from your own doctor or fertility clinic. Naming an organisation does not imply a partnership with Antega.
