Assisted hatching is often offered as part of an IVF process. It’s a procedure and as such has its risks. Let’s explore why you may want to do this. The process of assisted hatching refers to procedures done to the zona pellucida. The zona pellucida is the shell that surrounds the egg. Its clearest purpose… Read more »
Will pre-implantation genetic screening improve my IVF chances?
Pre-implantation genetic screening, or PGS, is when we analyze individual cells of embryos prior to embryo transfer. It holds great promise for maximizing pregnancy rates. Most IVF failures can be attributed back to embryo quality. Is PGS right for you? Perhaps, but it’s a highly personal choice. It depends a lot on your circumstances and… Read more »
IVF: choosing the best embryo, and the best day for embryo transfer
An IVF cycle should result in the retrieval of mature eggs. The eggs will be allowed to settle for a few hours, and then, that afternoon, fertilized with sperm. Choosing the best embryo The next day -day 1- each healthy embryo will still be a single cell, now at the two-Pro-Nucleii (2PN) stage. It… Read more »
What are the recent developments in implantation? (Part Three: PGS)
This post is part three of a series where we will discuss how embryos, the uterus and overall health impact implantation. We judge embryo quality in three ways: the number of embryos present, embryo grading, and PGS. In this post, we’ll talk about PGS. Our current gold standard for judging embryo quality is pre-implantation… Read more »
What are the recent developments in implantation? (Part Two: Embryo grading)
This post is part one of a series where we will discuss how embryos, the uterus and overall health impact implantation. We judge embryo quality in three ways: the number of embryos present, embryo grading, and PGS. In this post, we’ll talk about embryo grading. Stretched over the first 96 hours of development, we… Read more »
How long can embryos remain frozen?
There’s some microdegradation of DNA after only a few days. Microdegradation means DNA, or the proteins that support its structure, start to break down during the freezing process. How significant this is depends on the circumstances. When sperm are frozen, there are generally millions to spare. You can be confident that there will… Read more »