Glossary

The words nobody explains

Grouped by stage, so you only have to open the part you’re in.

Getting checked outThe tests that happen before anyone picks a treatment.

Semen analysis: A lab check of a semen sample: how many sperm there are, how well they move, and what shape they are. Usually the first test done on the male side.
Hormone panel: A set of blood tests measuring the hormones that run the menstrual cycle. Often timed to a specific day of the cycle.
AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone): A blood test used as a marker of ovarian reserve, roughly how many eggs are left. It can be drawn any day of the cycle.It does not predict whether you can conceive naturally, and it does not predict when menopause will arrive. It is easy to read too much into this number.
HSG (hysterosalpingogram): An X-ray using dye to outline the uterus and fallopian tubes, mainly to see whether the tubes are open.
Saline sonogram (SHG): An ultrasound done with sterile fluid in the uterus, to see the shape of the uterine cavity and the lining.
Endometrial biopsy: A small sample of the uterine lining taken for testing.
Karyotype: A blood test that photographs your chromosomes to check the number and structure. Done on either partner.
Carrier screening: Genetic testing on you and your partner to see whether you carry genes for inherited conditions that could be passed on.This is testing the two of you, not embryos. That is a different test, further down.
Antral follicle count (AFC): A count of the visible follicles on ultrasound near the start of a cycle, usually day 2 or 3. Read alongside AMH as a second measure of ovarian reserve.
Unexplained infertility: What you are told when the standard workup comes back normal on both sides: ovulation, fallopian tubes, and semen analysis all fine, and still no pregnancy. Up to 30% of couples end up here.It is a diagnosis of exclusion, which means it describes what the tests could not find, not that nothing is wrong. Hard to sit with, because there is no specific thing to fix and no clear next step beyond keeping going.

If it points to your sideThe words that come up when the male results are the ones in question.

Count (concentration): How many sperm per milliliter. Below roughly 16 million per milliliter is called oligospermia.
Motility: The share of sperm that are moving, and how well they move forward. Low motility is called asthenozoospermia.
Morphology: The share of sperm that are normally shaped. Under about 4% is called teratozoospermia.The threshold sounds alarming until you know it is measured against the lowest 5% of men whose partners conceived within a year. A "low" result is not the same as being infertile.
Azoospermia: No sperm found in the semen sample at all. It has different causes, and some are treatable.
Sperm DNA fragmentation: A separate test looking at damage to the DNA inside the sperm, rather than at count, movement or shape.
Varicocele: Enlarged veins in the scrotum. Common, sometimes linked to lower sperm quality and DNA damage, and repairable by surgery in some cases.
TESA / TESE / micro-TESE: Procedures to take sperm directly from the testicle when there is little or none in the ejaculate. Micro-TESE is the version done under a microscope.
One bad result is not a diagnosis: With a few specific exceptions, no single sperm measurement on its own means you cannot father a child. Results also vary between samples, which is why a repeat test is common.

IUIOften the first treatment tried, before IVF.

IUI (intrauterine insemination): Prepared sperm is placed directly into the uterus around the time an egg is released.
Monitoring: The repeated ultrasounds and blood draws used to track where you are in a cycle. Not a one-off appointment, it repeats through the cycle.
Trigger shot: An injection given once the follicles are big enough, to finish maturing the egg and set the timing for what comes next.

An IVF cycleEverything between starting injections and having embryos.

IVF (in vitro fertilization): Eggs are retrieved from the ovaries, fertilized with sperm in a lab, grown into embryos, and then transferred or frozen.
Stimulation ("stims"): Daily hormone injections to get multiple follicles growing at once instead of the single one a normal cycle produces.Length is not fixed. It depends on how your body responds, which is why medication is hard to order in exactly the right amount.
Gonadotropins: The injected hormones used for stimulation. Gonal-F and Menopur are common brand names.
Follicle: A fluid-filled sac in the ovary that may contain an egg. Follicles are what gets counted and measured at monitoring appointments.
Transvaginal ultrasound: The internal ultrasound used to count and measure follicles. This is the one that happens over and over.
Egg retrieval: A short procedure under sedation where eggs are collected from the follicles with a needle. Scheduled tightly, around 34 to 36 hours after the trigger shot.
ICSI: A single sperm is injected directly into an egg, rather than leaving egg and sperm together to fertilize on their own. Often billed as an add-on.
Embryologist: The lab scientist who fertilizes the eggs, grows the embryos, grades them, and freezes them. You may never meet them, and their skill matters a great deal.
Blastocyst: An embryo that has grown for five or six days and reached several hundred cells. This is usually the stage at which embryos are tested, frozen, or transferred.
OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome): A reaction to stimulation where the ovaries swell and fluid builds up. Moderate to severe cases happen in roughly 3 to 8% of cycles.Worth knowing the symptoms before you start, because you are the one who will notice her getting worse at home, at night, between appointments.

Embryos and testingWhat the lab reports back, and what the words mean.

PGT-A: Genetic testing on the embryos themselves, checking whether each one has the right number of chromosomes. Optional, and billed separately in many clinics.The "A" is for aneuploidy. It screens for chromosome errors that can happen randomly in any embryo, which is why it gets offered to almost everyone.
PGT-M: Testing embryos for a specific inherited condition caused by a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell.Only relevant when carrier screening already found that you and your partner carry the same thing. Not offered routinely.
PGT-SR: Testing embryos for a known structural problem with the chromosomes, such as a translocation, where a piece has swapped position.Usually comes up after a karyotype found something, or after repeated miscarriages.
Euploid: An embryo with the expected 46 chromosomes, 23 pairs. Usually described to you as "normal".
Aneuploid: An embryo with a different number of chromosomes than expected. Historically these were discarded.
Mosaic: An embryo where testing found both normal and abnormal cells rather than one or the other.Not a simple yes or no. Mosaic embryos implant less often than euploid ones and miscarry more, but some do result in healthy births, so many clinics now offer them as a lower-priority option. Some labs do not report mosaicism as its own category at all.
Grading: The embryologist scoring an embryo on how it looks under the microscope. It is a visual assessment, not a genetic one.
Cryopreservation (freezing): Freezing embryos, eggs, or sperm so they can be used later.
Storage: The ongoing yearly fee for keeping anything frozen. Commonly excluded from insurance, and easy to forget until the bill arrives.

Transfer, and waitingPutting an embryo back, and finding out.

Embryo transfer: An embryo is placed into the uterus through a thin catheter. Quick, and usually without sedation.
FET (frozen embryo transfer): A transfer using an embryo that was frozen earlier, rather than one from the cycle you are currently in. Billed separately from the retrieval cycle, sometimes months later.
Beta (hCG test): The blood test after a transfer that measures pregnancy hormone. Usually run about ten to twelve days after transfer, and often repeated to see whether the number is rising.
Two-week wait: The stretch between transfer and the beta test, when there is nothing to do and nothing to control.
Biochemical pregnancy: A positive blood test for a pregnancy that stops before anything can be seen on an ultrasound.
Clinical pregnancy: A pregnancy far enough along to be confirmed on an ultrasound.This is the distinction that makes clinic success rates hard to compare. A "pregnancy rate" and a live birth rate are very different numbers, and it is fair to ask a clinic which one it is quoting.

Money and coverageThe words that appear on bills and benefit documents.

ART (assisted reproductive technology): The umbrella term for treatments where eggs or embryos are handled. IVF is the main one. Egg and embryo freezing count too.IUI is not ART, because only sperm is handled. This matters: if your insurance has a lifetime ART cap, IUI may sit outside it.
Lifetime cap: A fixed total your insurance will pay for ART across your whole life on that plan, not per year and not per cycle.
Self-pay discount: A reduced price for paying directly rather than through insurance. Usually you have to ask for it.

Where clinic numbers come fromUseful when a clinic quotes you a success rate.

SART: The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology. Member clinics report their cycle data, and you can look up clinics on its site.
CDC ART data: US fertility clinics are required to report cycle outcomes, which the CDC publishes. A second place to check a clinic against its own marketing.
CAP accreditation: The College of American Pathologists accredits labs, including IVF labs. You can check the public directory yourself rather than take a clinic’s word for it.

Definitions checked against the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s patient resources, CDC, and SART. Anything about your own treatment belongs to your clinic, not to this page.