Sometimes, people who came for IVF, are asking whether the Fallopian tubes need to be removed before IVF.

Normally, what happens inside our body?
The sperms, deposited in the vagina during sexual intercourse, are travelling through the uterus into the Fallopian tubes (attached on the either side of the uterus), where the eggs released from the ovaries ("Ovulation") are also entering. Thus, inside the tube, the egg and the sperm meets ("fertilization") to produce the embryo, which then comes down inside the uterus. The embryo then attaches to the uterus and gives rise to pregnancy.

We need to understand how IVF is done.
By giving some medicines (injections) in the body, the eggs in the ovaries are grown and then they are collected with a fine needle from the ovaries. The sperms are collected from the male partner. In the laboratory, the eggs and sperms are fertilized to produce the embryo. The embryo is then transferred back inside the uterus, where it can give rise to pregnancy. Thus, basically what happens inside the fallopian tubes are done in the laboratory. Therefore, we are bypassing the function of the fallopian tubes during IVF.

So, IVF can be done whether the fallopian tubes remain open (Sperm problems, low egg counts, endometriosis, unexplained infertility, ejaculation problems, azoospermia) or blocked (in HSG, SSG and/or Laparoscopy). So, there is NO NEED OF REMOVAL OF THE TUBES BEFORE IVF.

However, there is one exception.
That is hydrosalpinx, where there is swelling of the fallopian tubes (one or both the tubes) because of accumulation of fluid. That fluid can come down from the tubes into the iterus and can damage the embryo transferred after IVF. In that case, the diseased fallopian tube is doing more harm than good. Therefore, the diseased tube MUST be removed before IVF. So, in most cases, IVF can be done keeping the Fallopian tubes inside the body.