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Female fertility test:
– Ovulation testing and tracking
– Pelvis ultra-sound
– AMH- change to ovarian reserve
Male fertility test:
– Non surgical sperm aspiration TESA
– TESA
– MESA 4. Micro-TESE
– Sperm DFI
HOPE International Fertility offers a varied range of investigations (male & female) for evaluating the reproductive capacity of your cells, to monitor the treatment and its progress, so that we can provide you the required help to have your baby in your arms.
Infertility in every couple is different and so is their treatment line, similarly the investigations also differ from couple to couple. You might have your previous investigations and if there is any missing we can help, to review them & suggest further course of action.
We take pride in doing all male and female investigations in our center so that we can investigate better & so that you don’t have to drive around the city.
Female fertility testing
Ovulation testing and tracking
The first thing tested in females usually is if you are ovulating or not.
Your fertility specialist at HOPE IVF would do that by using an ovulation kit, blood test or ultrasound.
Ultrasounds are the most versatile method used in IVF to evaluate the state of ovaries, endometrium, tubes and the uterus. Ovaries are looked into to see the egg carrying follicles in different phases. These ultrasounds are done on different specific days to track follicle and endometrium development. Ultrasounds can be done transvaginaly or transabdominaly depending on the need. Progress is also tracked using blood tests for oestrogen and progesterone (female hormones). All this helps to determine the best time to try for a baby naturally.
For your comfort and quick results all your ultrasound tests, medicines and other tests are provided within the clinic at HOPE IVF.
Pelvic ultrasound
Your IVF specialist might need you to go through a pelvic ultrasound to evaluate all the reproductive organs and entire system, including other pelvic structures. This ultrasound often helps in addressing queries regarding:
- Heavy, irregular or infrequent periods in premenopausal women
- Pelvic pain
- PCO
- Infertility
You can have your pelvic ultrasound at HOPE IVF, so that it can help us in helping you.
Checking fallopian tubes
We would confirm the status of your fallopian tubes, using one of the following methods:
- An x-ray
- Laparoscopic surgery
- Atubal patency test (dye test)
Ovarian reserve (AMH) blood test
What is my ovarian reserve ?
The number of good eggs in your ovaries is your ovarian reserve. All women are born with a finite number of eggs, quality and quantity of these eggs deteriorates with age. This decline increases from the age of 35.
There are specific tests that are a good indicator of your ovarian reserve, it tells us how many eggs are remaining but does not tell us the quality.
Should I have this test done ?
You might want to have this blood test if you:
- are having trouble conceiving
- want to check your ovarian reserve is at a healthy level for your age (you have a good number of eggs)
- are concerned about things that could have effected your reserve, such as chemotherapy
- want an idea of how many fertile years you may have ahead
How do I complete the test ?
This blood test is a specialised test. It’s important the results are analysed by a trained fertility expert. If you’d like to have the test, consult with a HOPE IVF fertility specialist for more information.
Male fertility testing
Advances in reproductive science in last ten years have made it possible for men, who were previously declared sterile, to father biological children.
Semen analysis
Male infertility is the second biggest cause of infertility (after a woman’s age). So, a semen analysis is crucial to assess male fertility. The test can give accurate information about:
- Motility – how many sperm can swim
- Morphology – shape of the sperm
- Count – how many individual sperm in the sample
- Vitality – how healthy the sperm are and their chance of survival
- Anti – Sperm Antibodies – they can attach to the sperm’s tail and slow them down as they travel through the cervical mucus.
It is important semen is analysed by trained scientists. It is a vital test for infertility treatment which is beyond general diagnostic laboratories.
Make sure you get the instruction sheet for “Do s & Don’t s” regarding semen collection from our team at HOPE IVF.
Quite often men (60%) who do not have sperm in ejaculate actually may have small zones of sperm production in the testicle. At HOPE we can reach to these microscopic zones of testicle where good graded sperms are available and these sperms can be used to fertilise the eggs.
TESE & TESA
Two different procedure to find sperms for ICSI, both having clear cut advantages and drawbacks and not all are applicable to every situation.
These procedures are required in couple with male factor infertility. They are minimal invasive, less painful and done in local sedation & with quicker results.
MESA: Micro-surgical Epididymal sperm Aspiration
Quite often an optimal procedure to obtain sperms in cases of obstruction of the reproductive tract. It’s a relatively painless and minimal invasive procedure, which allows us to recover the best quality sperms which can be further used with IVF procedures.
This procedure requires a well skilled male infertility team, embryology laboratory, specialised equipments and an operating suite and lack of above mentioned combination makes MESA rarely done procedure quite often.
HOPE team has worked in countries where government does not allow donor sperm, hence finding the precious sperm has been a routine.
Micro-TESE
Since the testicular tubules are microscopic they cannot be judged by naked eye, hence a high powered operating microscope is used to find the healthier tubules so they can be extracted and sperms can be harvested from them for ICSI.
Micro-TESE is an advanced procedure that requires a combination of a male infertility operating microscope, a much advanced embryology laboratory & an expert embryologist. This combination can make the difference between success and failure for any couple previously diagnosed with azoospermia.
Sperm DNA fragmentation
Due to various reasons fragmentation can occur in DNA and sperms with high index of such fragmented DNA leads to low quality zygotes or low number of implantations. There are assays that can give us a range value for the amount of DNA fragmentation occurred, this can be treated to some extend with some medicinal support however doing an ICSI with combination of TESE has showed quite promising results constantly.