LASER ASSISTED HATCHING (LAH)

Assisted hatching is a technology which helps embryos to hatch from its outer protective shell and attach to the womb of the woman. Pregnancy cannot occur unless the human embryo hatches. The unfertilised egg is surrounded by a shell called zonapellucida which ensures that only one sperm cell
enters and thus fertilises the egg. After fertilisation of the egg, zonapellucida keeps the cells of the embryo together.Laser assisted hatching is one out of several methods to help the fertilised egg to hatch and attach to the uterus. It requires less handling of the embryo and is faster than the other assisted hatching methods.

Who may benefit from this technique?

• Women over 37 years
• Women with an elevated baseline level of FSH (follicular stimulating hormone)
• Women with poor prognosis embryos, including conditions such as a thick zonapellucida, slow cell division rate, or high cell fragmentation
• Women who have failed 1 or more IVF cycles
• Women using frozen/thawed embryos, which may have hardened zonapellucida