Assisted Conception

Artificial Insemination

Artificial Insemination (AI) is a form of fertility treatment whereby the male's washed/prepared semen sample is deposited into the female's reproductive tract in hope to maximize the chances of the sperm meeting the egg without sexual intercourse. There are two main techniques used in AI which are Intra-Cervical Insemination (ICI) and Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI).For many infertile couples, IUI or ICI is less invasive and more affordable when compared to IVF or ICSI treatment. However, there are limitations to these techniques. Success rates for AI are expected to be lower than IVF or ICSI due to many factors, for example, age of the recipient, sperm quality, timing of insemination and outcome of the ovarian stimulation.

In-vitro Fertilization (IVF)

IVF is attempted when couples are diagnosed of having blocked and/or damaged Fallopian tubes, severe male infertility and other forms of fertility treatments options had failed. It involves ovarian hyperstimulation to retrieve multiple numbers of eggs. On the same day, the spouse's semen sample is obtained and prepared aseptically to attempt fertilization by culturing the sperm and eggs together. Fertilized eggs are then identified and cultured in the IVF laboratory for 2, 3 or 5 days to select the best embryo with the highest chance of development and implantation. An embryo transfer procedure is then carried out to replace the embryo into the woman's uterus.

Intra-cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

This is also another form of IVF treatment whereby a single sperm is injected into a mature egg by forced entry performed by a qualified embryologist. This procedure is carried out when IVF failed to produce reasonable fertilization rate and to overcome the severe male factor infertility. After ICSI, the eggs are then checked to see if fertilization had occurred. Fertilized eggs are then separated from unfertilized eggs for further culturing. On the day of embryo transfer 2 to 3 embryos are chosen to be replaced into the uterus.

MESA / TESE and PESA / TESA

These procedures are carried out together with ICSI and when the men are diagnosed with azoospermia (absence of sperm in the ejaculate). It involves microsurgery of the testis by an experienced Urologist. During the surgery, he will remove a small fraction of the testicular tissue under general anaesthesia. From the tissues, the Embryologist will extract the sperm cells from the tissues and are used for ICSI.

Laser Assisted Hatching

In IVF treatment, exposure of embryos to in-vitro (external) culture conditions may cause the zona e(shell surrounding the egg) to harden, intensifying its difficulty in completing the hatching process in-vivo (internal). Other possible reasons include thickened zona (more than 20 micron), frozen-thawed embryos, abnormal zona structure (compact and/or discolouration), elevated FSH hormone level, repeated IVF-ET failure and advanced maternal age. Therefore, an adjunct treatment known as assisted hatching (AH) was introduced to overcome these issues consequently to assist easier hatching process of the blastocyst prior to embryo replacement. At Sunfert IVF, laser beam is used to perform assisted hatching as it is a much faster, hands-free, more sterile and convenient approach compared to mechanical and chemical techniques.