TBC
Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART):
A general term referring to infertility procedures that involves egg and sperm including IVF and ICSI.
Caremaps:
Caremaps uses time-lapse imaging to help us choose the best embryo without genetic testing. Using time-lapse imaging, we take photos of your embryos every few minutes. We combine this with a specific algorithm that allows us to better assess how an embryo is developing compared to how it should be developing at specific points in time.
DNA Fragmentation Test:
A test that can help measure thousands of sperm in an ejaculate sample. The sperm are stained with fluorescent probe that interacts with the DNA. The fluorescence signal will change when DNA are fragmented.
Duo Stimulation:
Designed for patients that produce very low numbers of follicles or eggs when the maximum dosage of stimulation drugs is used. You would undergo a round of ovarian stimulation, with any developed follicles being drained, the collected eggs fertilised and any subsequent suitable embryos being frozen. By day 5, you would start another round of ovarian stimulation, following your first egg collection, with a second egg collection procedure following 9-12 days later, with the eggs collected being fertilised and subsequent embryos of suitable quality frozen.
Elective Freeze All Cycles:
Instead of performing an embryo transfer several days after egg collection, an Elective Freeze all Cycle is where we freeze all your embryos for around six weeks or until we are satisfied that the womb lining is prepared and optimised for a thawed embryo transfer.
Eggsafe AI:
Eggsafe AI makes egg freezing and storage simpler and more effective. By using artificial intelligence powered image analysis of your eggs, it allows us to understand the chance of each of the eggs you produce successfully fertilising.
Embryo freezing:
Once the egg and the sperm have successfully fertilised, the resulting embryo can be frozen. Using a freezing method called vitrification, we ensure that the embryo is frozen rapidly to ensure the best preservation. This can then be placed into the womb at a later date.
EMMA/ALICE:
Endometrial Microbiome Metagenomic Analysis helps indicate the balance of endometrial microbiome, allowing us to understand the proportions of endometrial bacteria including those linked to higher pregnancy rates. ALICE looks at bacteria that can cause chronic endometriosis.
ICSI:
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection is where an individual sperm cell is inserted directly into the egg cell.
IUI:
Intrauterine Insemination involves directly inserting specially washed sperm into a woman’s womb at the most fertile point of her cycle.
IVF:
In Vitro Fertilisation involves the fertilisation of an egg and sperm outside of the body.
Laparoscopy:
A technique that allows us to visualise the internal abdominal organs. This occurs through introducing an instrument into the abdominal wall below the navel via a small incision.
STIMS: Stimulating Hormones, such as gonadotropins which are injectable fertility drugs.
Surrogacy:
When a woman carries a baby for an individual or couple who are unable to conceive or carry a child themselves.
There are two types of surrogacies:
Gestational Surrogacy is where you donate your own eggs for use in treatment and they are fertilised with your partner’s or donor’s sperm. Whereas traditional surrogacy uses the surrogate mother’s eggs which are fertilised by donor or your partner’s sperm.