Gamete IntraFallopian Transfer - GIFT

The acronyms, IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), GIFT (Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer), and TOT (Tubal Ovum Transfer), may be confusing when trying to differentiate one from the other. In all three ART procedures, your ovaries are stimulated with medication to produce mature eggs, which are then removed from your ovaries just prior to ovulation.

In GIFT, your eggs are retrieved under general anesthesia in the hospital operating room by laparoscopy. Your eggs are then placed into your Fallopian tubes with a specified amount of processed sperm during the same procedure. Fertilization occurs "in vivo," which means "in your body," as opposed to "in vitro," or "outside your body" in the laboratory. Initially, GIFT had a much higher success rate than IVF, but at present it is utilized infrequently as the IVF rates have often superceded those from GIFT.