Once initial testing has determined the likely cause of the infertility, you'll be in excellent hands. Trinity's Fertility Services Program specializes in the latest and most comprehensive technology available to bring you every step of the way to realizing your dream of becoming parents. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) uses special methods to help infertile couples. These methods involve handling both the woman's eggs and the man's sperm. Success rates for such procedures vary and depend on many factors. However, Trinity with the use of ART, has made it possible for countless couples to have children that otherwise would not have been able to do so.

In vitro fertilization (IVF)
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of the most widely used types of ART. This procedure is often used when a woman's fallopian tubes are blocked or when a man has low sperm counts or poor sperm performance. IVF starts with a drug used to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Once mature, the eggs are removed and placed in a culture dish with the man's sperm for fertilization. Once the incubation process is completed in the laboratory, the eggs are examined to see if they have become fertilized by the sperm and are dividing into cells. Embryos (these fertilized eggs) are then placed into the woman's uterus, bypassing the woman's blocked fallopian tubes.

Micromanipulation
The IVF laboratory at Trinity's Fertility Services Program uses technological advancements every day to help families grow. One such procedure is the microscopic treatment of individual oocytes, sperm, or embryos in an effort to improve fertilization and/ or pregnancy rates and is referred to as micromanipulation. The advances in microscopic equipment and knowledge of oocytes, sperm and embryos have led to improved micromanipulation techniques over the past 10 years.

ICSI
One type of micromanipulation is intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). This is a procedure that attempts to achieve fertilization by the direct injection of a single sperm into the egg. Patients with severe male factor infertility or patients with a history of failure of fertilization in conventional in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer are candidates for ICSI.

Assisted Hatching
Also performed here at Trinity's lab, is assisted hatching. Immediately before implantation, the blastocyst must "hatch" from its shell, which originally enveloped the oocyte. Assisted hatching is used in some patients when the shell of the embryo is still intact on day five. To assist the hatching process, we micromanipulate the embryos by dissolving part of the shell with an acid solution. The embryo is then later transferred to the uterus.

PGD
Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a technique we can use during in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures to test embryos for genetic disorders prior to their transfer to the uterus. This requires an embryo biopsy on day two in the lab. Genetic results are known within 24 hours so that the selected embryos may be transferred on day five. PGD may be suggested for couples with serious inherited disorders to decrease the risk of having a child who may be affected by the same problem.