Infertility Procedures
Directed Coitus- Artificial insemination (AI)
- In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
- Embryo cryopreservation
- Sperm bank
- Egg and ovarian tissue cryopreservation
- Sperm recovery techniques
- Ovum donation
- Embryo donation
- Embryo co-cultivation
- Ovum maturation
- Assisted hatching
- Genetic Studies
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is currently the most novel assisted reproduction technique.
It is not initially directed at infertile couples but at those where there is an elevated risk of transmitting to descendents a specific illness, such as haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, etc. It is also used in cases of repeated miscarriage.
The process consists in first performing a ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) followed by the genetic analysis of one of the cells of each embryo obtained, identifying which embryos are carriers of the abnormalities being screened. Only the embryos free from the genetic defects are implanted, eliminating the disease in the descendents. With this technique, a pregnancy rate of 40% is achieved.
