Pu­blished: 10. Fe­bruary 2022 | Up­dated: 14. De­cember 2023 Author: Jo­hanna Kohnen | Re­viewed by Jo­hanna Kohnen

Fer­ti­lity glos­sary 

Glos­sary

Amenor­hoea

The ab­sence of mens­trual blee­ding. A di­stinc­tion is made bet­ween pri­mary and se­con­dary blee­ding. In the case of pri­mary blee­ding, the woman has never had a pe­riod be­fore, whe­reas in the case of se­con­dary blee­ding, the pe­riod sud­denly stops.

Anti-Mül­le­rian hor­mone (AMH)

The anti-Mül­le­rian hor­mone pro­vides in­sight into the ova­rian re­serve. The AMH level can be de­ter­mined from the com­fort of your own home with our self-test.

Mis­car­riage

A mis­car­riage is a pre­ma­ture ter­mi­na­tion of pregnancy.

As­sisted Hat­ching

In this ad­di­tional tre­at­ment be­fore transfer in IVF/ICSI, a small in­den­ta­tion is made in the egg mem­brane, which acts as a kind of pre­de­ter­mined brea­king point when the em­bryo hat­ches and is in­tended to make it ea­sier for the em­bryo to leave the zona pel­lu­cida at this point.

Azoo­spermia

This is the com­plete ab­sence of sperm cells in the eja­cu­late.

Basal body tem­pe­ra­ture curve

The basal body tem­pe­ra­ture curve helps to de­ter­mine the fer­tile days. In a re­gular cycle, the tem­pe­ra­ture rises by 0.5° C after ovu­la­tion. This curve can be used to de­ter­mine the tem­pe­ra­ture and thus also the fer­tile days.

Fer­ti­liza­tion

This is the fu­sion of egg and sperm with the for­ma­tion of a new cell nu­cleus.

Blas­to­cyst

An em­bryo that is al­ready se­veral days old (at least 5) and al­ready has a small cyst in the centre.

Clo­mi­phene

A drug to be taken in ta­blet form for hor­monal sti­mu­la­tion of the ova­ries.

ES + 2

In fer­ti­lity jargon, coun­ting the days after ovu­la­tion to de­ter­mine when a pregnancy test is useful.

Egg do­na­tion

Not al­lowed in Ger­many. In this pro­ce­dure, a he­althy woman do­nates eggs to a couple or a single woman after hor­monal pre-tre­at­ment. These are fer­ti­lised with donor sperm or the sperm of the re­spec­tive partner. The re­sul­ting em­bryos are then trans­ferred into the uterus of the woman who re­ceives the do­na­tion.

En­do­me­triosis

A di­sease that re­sults in a di­spersed ute­rine li­ning. This often leads to ad­he­sions in the ab­do­minal ca­vity.

Fer­ti­lity

Fer­ti­lity (from fero = I bear; give birth); ori­gi­nally the ability to carry a pregnancy to term. Today, in ge­neral: the ability to re­pro­duce (= pro­create).

Fol­licle

The fol­licles in the ovary. Nor­mally one fol­licle grows in each cycle. The egg de­ve­lops in it and en­ters the fallo­pian tube du­ring ovu­la­tion.

FSH

Fol­licle-sti­mu­la­ting hor­mone. A hor­mone pro­duced by the pi­tui­tary gland which causes the egg to ma­ture in the ovary.

Hys­tero­scopy

Hys­tero­scopy — using a spe­cial small optic to look in­side the ute­rine ca­vity. This ex­ami­na­tion is done to rule out ch­anges that could in­ter­fere with the im­plan­ta­tion of the egg.

Corpus lu­teum

Corpus lu­teum; after the egg has left the fol­licle, a corpus lu­teum forms. This is when the corpus lu­teum hor­mone is pro­duced.

Lu­teal we­ak­ness

The re­duced pro­duc­tion of the corpus lu­teum hor­mone in the se­cond half of the cycle.

GVP

Se­xual in­ter­course on sche­dule.

HCG

Human Cho­rion Go­na­do­tropin: The hor­mone pro­duced du­ring pregnancy.

Hib­beln

Term in fer­ti­lity jargon for the wai­ting time after ovu­la­tion.

IUI

In­se­mi­na­tion: Pre­pared sperm are in­jected into the uterus on the day of ovu­la­tion.

ICSI

In­tra­cy­to­plasmic sperm in­jec­tion: After an egg has been fer­ti­lised in the la­bo­ra­tory with a sel­ected sperm cell, it is trans­ferred back into the uterus.

IVF

In Vitro Fer­ti­li­sa­tion: A type of as­sisted re­pro­duc­tion. In this pro­cess, egg cells are brought tog­e­ther with sperm cells in a vessel. Ide­ally, fer­ti­li­sa­tion oc­curs.

KIWU

Fer­ti­lity clinic

Fer­ti­lity clinic

Clinic spe­cia­li­sing in the topic of in­fer­ti­lity

Cryo­p­re­ser­va­tion

Sto­rage of bio­lo­gical ma­te­rial in li­quid ni­trogen. This in­cludes for ex­ample, the sto­rage of oo­cytes or sperm cells.

Cryo­cycle

Frozen oo­cytes in the pro­nu­clear stage can be thawed after cryo­p­re­ser­va­tion and trans­ferred back into the uterus once an em­bryo has de­ve­loped.

as­sisted re­pro­duc­tion

Also called as­sisted re­pro­duc­tion.

LH

Lut­ei­ni­sing hor­mone. This hor­mone is pro­duced in the pi­tui­tary gland and is one of the hor­mones in­volved in the re­gu­la­tion of re­pro­duc­tion. In women, it pro­motes ovu­la­tion and the for­ma­tion of the corpus lu­teum.

Mens­trua­tion

Mens­trua­tion is a re­cur­rent blee­ding at the end of a cycle.

Ni­da­tion

The pro­cess of im­plan­ta­tion of the fer­ti­lized egg into the li­ning of the uterus.

Ni­da­tion blee­ding

Du­ring im­plan­ta­tion, there may be some blee­ding.

OAT syn­drome

Oligo-Astheno-Tera­to­zoo­spermia. In this case, there are too few, mal­formed and po­orly mo­bile sperm in the eja­cu­late.

Ovu­la­tion

The egg cell leaves the fol­licle and tra­vels into the fallo­pian tube, where fer­ti­liza­tion takes place.

Ovu­la­tion test

Si­milar to the pregnancy test. Here, the hor­mone con­tent in the urine is de­ter­mined with the help of a test stick and thus the fer­tile days can be de­ter­mined.

Ora­cles

Me­thod of using ovu­la­tion tests to de­ter­mine whe­ther pregnancy has oc­curred after ovu­la­tion.

PCO

Po­ly­cy­stic ova­ries. In this case, too many fol­licles de­velop but do not ma­ture. The re­sult is that ovu­la­tion does not occur and cy­cles are too long.

Punc­ture

Egg coll­ec­tion

Pro­ges­te­rone

Lu­teal hor­mone

PUPO

Pregnant until proven other­wise

Re­pro­duc­tive me­di­cine

This deals with re­pro­duc­tion, as well as the ba­sics and con­trol of fer­ti­lity and dis­or­ders.

Sper­mio­gram

Ex­ami­na­tion of the sperm or ra­ther, the eja­cu­late. The most im­portant pa­ra­me­ters are: Number, moti­lity and mor­pho­logy of the sperm.

Sperm do­na­tion

The do­na­tion of sperm for as­sisted re­pro­duc­tion.

Swim Up

Spe­cial pre­pa­ra­tion tech­nique of sperm cells.

So­cial free­zing

Re­fers to the pre­cau­tio­nary free­zing of un­fer­ti­lised eggs or sperm wi­t­hout a me­dical back­ground.

Day of the In­vol­un­t­a­rily Child­less

16th of May

Tes­to­ste­rone

The male sex hor­mone

Hy­per­sti­mu­la­tion syn­drome

Cli­nical pic­ture that can occur after hor­mone tre­at­ment in the con­text of as­sisted re­pro­duc­tion.

Vasec­tomy

Also known as male ste­ri­li­sa­tion. The vas de­fe­rens of the man are cut and then closed. This is used to pre­vent con­cep­tion.

Me­no­pause

In women, re­fers to the hor­monal ad­jus­t­ment with the tran­si­tion from the re­pro­duc­tive to the post-me­no­pausal phase.

Cycle

The pe­riod bet­ween two mens­trual pe­riods.

Cycle mo­ni­to­ring

Mo­ni­to­ring of the mens­trual cycle by ul­tra­sound.

Cer­vical mucus

A se­cre­tion of the fe­male body that has dif­fe­rent con­sis­ten­cies du­ring a cycle.

About Fer­tilly

At Fer­tilly, we have made it our mis­sion to ac­com­pany cou­ples (ho­mo­se­xual and he­te­ro­se­xual) and sin­gles on the way to ful­fil­ling their child wish. In doing so, it is im­portant to us to create trans­pa­rency in the area of fer­ti­lity ser­vices, to pro­vide in­for­ma­tion and know­ledge on the to­pics of pregnancy and fer­ti­lity and to help you to find the most sui­table Fer­ti­lity Center. Th­rough co­ope­ra­tion with first-class Fer­ti­lity Cen­tres and cli­nics in Eu­rope, en­qui­ries about Fer­tilly are given pre­fe­ren­tial tre­at­ment. This means that our pa­ti­ents avoid the usually long wai­ting times and get ap­point­ments more quickly.

If you would like more in­for­ma­tion about Fer­ti­lity Cen­ters, suc­cess rates and prices, please contact us using this ques­ti­on­n­aire. We will ad­vise you free of charge and wi­t­hout any ob­li­ga­tion.

  • Answer the first ques­tions in the on­line form in order to book an ap­point­ment. This way we can better ad­dress your needs du­ring the con­ver­sa­tion.

  • We will find the best contact person for your in­di­vi­dual needs. Sche­dule 20 mi­nutes for the con­sul­ta­tion.

  • We will in­tro­duce you to the right fer­ti­lity clinic from our net­work, make an ap­point­ment and ac­com­pany you until your wish for a child is ful­filled.

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