Agglutination: When sperm clump together.

Amenorrhea: A condition in which a woman doesn't have menstrual periods.

Anovulation: A condition in which a woman doesn't ovulate or ovulates rarely.

Antisperm Antibody Test: A test that can determine if antibodies on the surface of sperm are
interfering with the ability of sperm to move, penetrate the cervical mucus, or fertilize an egg.

Artificial Insemination: The general name for the procedure in which sperm are inserted
directly into a woman's cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, or uterus.

Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART): The general term for infertility procedures
such as IVF, GIFT, ZIFT, and ICSI.

Azoospermia: When a man has no sperm present in his semen.

Basal Body Temperature (BBT): A temperature reading that can be used to chart ovulation when taken every day.

Blastocyst: A fertilized egg after several days of cell division.

Cervical Mucus: Mucus produced by the cervix that increases in quantity as ovulation approaches.

Clomid: A fertility drug given to women to stimulate ovulation.

Donor Eggs: Eggs that are taken from a fertile woman and implanted in another woman.

Ectopic Pregnancy: When an embryo implants outside the uterus.

Egg Donation
Egg donation is the process by which a woman provides one or several eggs (ova, oocytes) for purposes of assisted reproduction or biomedical research. For assisted reproduction purposes, egg donation involves the process of in vitro fertilization as the eggs are fertilized in the laboratory. After the eggs have been obtained, the role of the egg donor is complete. Egg donation is part of the process of third party reproduction.

Egg Donor
Egg donors are recruited, screened, and give consent prior to participation in the IVF process. Some patients bring their own, designated donors, while other patients rely on the services of often anonymous donors typically recruited by egg donor agencies or, sometimes, IVF programs. Once the egg donor is recruited, she undergoes the IVF stimulation therapy, followed by the egg retrieval procedure. After retrieval, the ova are handed over to the recipient couple, fertilized by the sperm of the male partner in the laboratory, and after several days, the resulting embryo(s) is placed in the uterus of the recipient. For the embryo transfer the lining of the recipient has been appropriately prepared in a synchronous fashion. The recipient is usually the person who requested the service and then will carry and deliver the pregnancy and keep the baby.

Embryo Freezing - Cryopreservation
Cryopreservation is a process where cells or whole tissues are preserved by cooling to low sub-zero temperatures, such as (typically)
77 K or −196 °C (the boiling point of liquid nitrogen). At these low temperatures, any biological activity, including the biochemical reactions that would lead to cell death, is effectively stopped. However, when vitrification solutions are not used, the cells being preserved are often damaged due to freezing during the approach to low temperatures or warming to room temperature.

Endometriosis: A painful condition in which tissue from the lining of the uterus
(the endometrium) grows outside of the uterus.

Endometrium: The tissue lining the inside of the uterus.

Fallopian Tubes: Two hollow tubes on either side of the uterus where the egg and sperm
meet to begin the process of fertilization.

Follicle: A group of cells forming a cavity in the ovary where the egg grows before it's released during ovulation.

Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH): A hormone that causes cells in the ovaries to grow.
Sold under the name Follistim, Fertinex, and Gonal-F.

Freezing Sperm
The sperm is stored in small vials or straws of holding between 0.4 and 1.0 ml and cryogenically preserved in liquid nitrogen tanks. There seems to be no limit on how long frozen sperm can be stored. Before freezing, sperm may be prepared so that it can be used for intra-cervical insemination (ICI), intra-uterine insemination (IUI) or for IVF (or assisted reproduction) (ART).

Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT): An assisted reproductive technique that involves removing sperm
and eggs, mixing them together and placing them into the fallopian tubes.

Gender Selection
Two major types of pre-implantation methods can be used for social sex selection.
Sperm sorting - The separation of X Chromosome sperm from Y Chromosome sperm.
The resulting sorted sperm are used in either artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) - In sex selection cases, embryos resulting from IVF procedures are genetically
tested for X or Y Chromosomes. The embryos of the desired sex are then implanted.

Gestational Carrier
In gestational surrogacy the surrogate becomes pregnant via embryo transfer with a child of which she is not the biological mother. She may have made an arrangement to relinquish it to the biological mother or father to raise, or to a parent who is themselves unrelated to the child (e. g. because the child was conceived using egg donation, sperm donation or is the result of a donated embryo). The surrogate mother may be called the gestational carrier.

Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (Gn-RH): A hormone that is involved in triggering ovulation.
Sold under the name Factrel and Lutrepulse.

Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Agonists and Antagonists (GnRH Agonist): Synthetic hormones that
perform the same function as natural Gn-RH.

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG): A hormone that can be used to trigger ovulation.
Sold under the names Novarel, Pregnyl, and Ovidrel.

Hysterosalpinogram: A high-tech X-ray of the fallopian tubes and uterus.

Hysteroscopy: A procedure in which a thin, telescope-like instrument is inserted through the cervix into
the uterus, allowing the doctor to see and photograph the area.

Infertility: Typically defined as an inability to get pregnant after a year of unprotected intercourse.
Reproductive endocrinologists, the doctors specializing in infertility, consider a couple to be infertile if:

• the couple has not conceived after 12 months of contraceptive-free intercourse if the female is under the age of 34
  
• the couple has not conceived after 6 months of contraceptive-free intercourse if the female is over the age of 35 (declining egg
• quality of females over the age of 35 account for the age-based discrepancy as when to seek medical intervention)
  
• the female is incapable of carrying a pregnancy to term.

ICSI - Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI, pronounced "eeksee") is an in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg. This procedure is most commonly used to overcome male infertility problems, although it may also be used where eggs cannot easily be penetrated by sperm, and occasionally as a method of in vitro fertilization, especially that associated with sperm donation.

Insemination
Insemination is the introduction of sperm into the female uterus of a mammal or the oviduct of an oviparous (egg-laying animal) during copulation with another animal. Artificial insemination is when it is done by some means other than copulation.

Intrauterine Isemination (IUI): An artificial insemination technique in which sperm are put directly
into a woman's uterus.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): In vitro fertilisation - IVF, is a technique in which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the woman's womb, in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed. The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova (eggs) from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a fluid medium. The fertilised egg (zygote) is then transferred to the patient's uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy.

Ovulation Induction
Ovulation induction may be accomplished using a number of different medications. It results in the the ovary to produce one or more eggs.
Ovulation induction may be helpful in a variety of treatments. Ovulation inductioncan be used to start the release of multiple eggs in ovulatory women undergoing various infertility treatments.

Laparoscopy: A procedure that involves insertion of a narrow, telescope-like instrument called a laparoscope
through a small incision in the abdomen.

Luteinizing Hormone: A hormone that triggers ovulation.

Luteal Phase: The second half of the menstrual cycle.

Male Factor Infertility: When the cause of a couple's infertility is due to problems in the man or
when it contributes to existing fertility problems in the woman.

Morphology: The size and shape of sperm.

Motility: The ability of sperm to move by themselves.

Oligospermia: When a man has too few sperm to fertilize an egg normally.

Ovulation: When the ovaries release a mature egg that is ready for fertilization.

Ovum: An egg.

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID): Inflammation of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries;
a cause of infertility in some women.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): A condition in which cysts in the ovary interfere with
normal ovulation and menstruation.

Postcoital Test: A standard fertility test in which a sample of cervical mucus is taken after
intercourse to check the number and behavior of the sperm.

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: refers to procedures that are performed on embryos prior to implantation, sometimes even on oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered an alternative to prenatal diagnosis. Its main advantage is that it avoids selective pregnancy termination as the method makes it highly likely that the baby will be free of the disease under consideration. PGD thus is an adjunct to assisted reproductive technology, and requires in vitro fertilization (IVF) to obtain oocytes or embryos for evaluation. The term preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is used to denote procedures that do not look for a specific disease but use PGD techniques to identify embryos at risk.

Premature Ovarian Failure: A condition in which a woman enters menopause earlier than normal
as a result of the ovaries ceasing ovulation and the production of estrogen.

Recurrent Miscarriage:
Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) or recurrent miscarriage (medically termed habitual abortion) is the occurrence of three consecutive miscarriages. A large majority (85%) of women who have hadone or two miscarriages will conceive and carry normally afterwards.

Retrograde Ejaculation: A condition in which semen enters the bladder during ejaculation instead of leaving the penis.

Round Spermatid Nucleus Injection (ROSNI): An experimental technique in which immature cells are
removed from the testicle and the nucleus, which contains all the genetic material, is injected into an egg.

Semen Analysis: A standard test of a man's semen to check the number and shape of his sperm.

Sonogram: The use of high-frequency sound waves to create images of structures inside the body.

Sperm: The main agents of male reproduction, which are produced in the testes and released into the semen.

Surrogacy:
Surrogacy is a method of assisted reproduction whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others to raise. She may be the child's genetic mother (the more traditional form of surrogacy), or she may be implanted with an unrelated embryo. In some cases surrogacy is the only available option for parents who wish to have a child that is biologically related to them.

Superovulation: Stimulation of the ovaries, usually done with hormones, that causes them to
produce multiple eggs instead of one.

Tubal Ligation: A surgical procedure in which the fallopian tubes are surgically closed to prevent pregnancy.

Uterus: The womb, the main female reproductive organ.

Varicocele: A varicose vein in the scrotum that may affect the quality and the production of sperm.

Vasectomy: A surgical procedure for men that prevents sperm from reaching the urethra, making him sterile.

Zygote: An early stage in the development of a fertilized egg.

Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (ZIFT): An assisted reproductive technique similar to IVF that involves
removing sperm and eggs, combining them outside the body, and inserting fertilized eggs into the fallopian tubes.