Assisted Hatching (AHA) and Embryo Defragmantation

Another intervention on embryos is assisted hatching. This can be defined as thinning or opening completely of a certain area on the membrane surrounding the embryo (zona pellucida) mechanically, using acid tyrode or by laser. This procedure makes it easier for the embryos to hold on to the uterus wall. The previous failures in achieving pregnancies although using embryos of high quality can be attributed to implantation failures. In cases of unexplained implantation and especially when the membrane surrounding the embryo, assisted hatching (opening of the embryo wall) improves the implantation ratio. These procedures are performed on embryos of the third day to be transferred selectively. We perform AHA procedure fpr women over 35 and whom FSH level is above normal (FSH>10mIU/ml) on the third day of menstrual bleeding, in cases that pregnancy could not be achieved despite the high quality of embryos transferred in previous applications, when the embryo membrane is thick (when zona pellucida is thicker than 15 micrometers), when unwanted cell debris have to be removed (de-fragmentation) and to take biopsies from the embryo for pre-implantation diagnosis. Cell debris and degenerated cells within the embryo probably prevent the further development of the embryo. The fragments within the apparently normal embryo are removed by micropipettes after opening the membrane partially. This procedure is called de-fragmentation, and it is belived to be helpful for the further development of the embryo.