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Gamete intra-fallopian tube transfer (GIFT)
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📖 About Gamete Intra-Fallopian Tube Transfer (GIFT)
- Indication: Assisted reproductive technique for couples with unexplained infertility, endometriosis, or male factor infertility where at least one fallopian tube is patent. Not suitable for women with tubal blockage.
- Procedure Overview: Oocytes are collected laparoscopically under general anaesthesia. Motile sperm are prepared from the partner’s semen.
- Technique: 1–2 oocytes and sperm are transferred directly into the fallopian tube through a laparoscope. Fertilisation then occurs in vivo (inside the body), unlike IVF where fertilisation is extracorporeal.
- Duration: Around 30 minutes, requiring anaesthesia and operative facilities.
- Outcomes: Pregnancy rates are slightly lower than IVF. Risks include multiple pregnancy and anaesthesia-related complications. As IVF has advanced with higher success and less invasiveness, GIFT is now rarely performed.
- Advantages: Fertilisation occurs naturally within the body, sometimes seen as more acceptable for ethical or religious reasons.
- Current Use: Superseded by IVF/ICSI in most centres. Rarely offered in the UK, where NICE guidelines recommend IVF as the standard assisted reproductive technique.
💡 Clinical Pearl
Think of GIFT as “IVF without the dish” — eggs and sperm are placed in the tube, and nature completes fertilisation.