Final answer:
The procedure for treating infertility that involves combining eggs and sperm outside the body and implanting embryos in the uterus is known as IVF, or in vitro fertilization.
Step-by-step explanation:
The abbreviation for the procedure that treats infertility by combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish, with the embryos later placed inside the uterus, is IVF, which stands for in vitro fertilization. In this process, eggs are collected from the ovaries and are then fertilized by sperm in a petri dish. This creates zygotes, which develop into embryos that can be transferred to the woman’s uterus. If standard IVF does not achieve fertilization, an additional procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) may be employed, where a single sperm is injected directly into an egg. IVF can sometimes result in multiple births and also produces surplus fertilized eggs and embryos that can be frozen for future use.