Assisted zona hatching (AZH) is a procedure of
assisted reproductive technology
Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. This subject involves procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), cryopreservation of gamet ...
in which a small hole is made in the
zona pellucida, using a micromanipulator, thereby facilitating
zona hatching.
[IVF-infertility.com]
/ref> Zona hatching is where the blastocyst
The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early embryonic development of mammals. It possesses an inner cell mass (ICM) also known as the ''embryoblast'' which subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer layer of trophoblast cells called th ...
gets rid of the surrounding zona pellucida to be able to implant
Implant can refer to:
Medicine
* Implant (medicine), or specifically:
**Brain implant
**Breast implant
** Buttock implant
**Cochlear implant
**Contraceptive implant
**Dental implant
** Fetal tissue implant
** Implantable cardioverter-defibrillato ...
in the uterus.
Efficacy
A systematic review and meta-analysis came to the result that assisted zona hatching is related to increased rates of clinical pregnancy and multiple pregnancy in women with previous repeated failure or frozen-thawed embryos.[ Also, overall, there no evidence of a significant difference in ]live birth rate Pregnancy rate is the success rate for getting pregnant. It is the percentage of all attempts that leads to pregnancy, with attempts generally referring to menstrual cycles where insemination or any artificial equivalent is used, which may be simp ...
following assisted hatching compared with no assisted hatching.
References
Assisted reproductive technology
Human reproduction
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