We chose to put the following topics under research since the outcomes are yet to be more favorable and patient compliant. The facility and media are available to carry out these procedures with a prior consent and counseling in regard to the success of their outcome. You must be aware of the benefits and possible outcomes of these procedures.

In Vitro Maturation of Oocytes

In vitro maturation of oocytes, as the name suggests is the process of harvesting oocytes from a patient with minimal ovarian stimulation and prior to its natural release from the ovarian follicle. The oocytes thus obtained are normally found in any one of the developing stages such as prophase-I, otherwise known as Germinal vesicle and the Metaphase-I. They are further matured in vitro using specially formulated culture media and checked for further development every 18-24 hours. Ideally the time taken to mature is close to 48 hours in most cases. Following assessment and successful transition to ideal maturity, that is, metaphase-II, the oocyte is injected with the husband’s sperms using the ICSI technique. Conventional insemination can also be performed but we had better success with fertilization following ICSI. We have compiled data to show that we tried with minimal ovarian stimulation as well as in conventional cycles, harvested immature oocytes, which did attain maturity and progressed to form embryos; however we had one successful twin pregnancy which is ongoing.

This is a novel technique in the field of cryopreservation of embryos and oocytes. As opposed to the conventional slow freezing methods, vitrification promises to reduce intracellular ice crystal formation with a shorter duration of procedure and better recovery rates. It seems to be lucrative in the freezing of human oocytes, which until now seemed elusive. With the advent of this technology we can freeze and recover oocytes without producing the damage caused by intracellular ice formation, which is detrimental in this case, owing to large cell size and increased water content. This method solidifies a solution into a glassy vitrified state. At present, oocytes can also be frozen using the conventional slow freezing method which we hope to evaluate as a control. The media we use is procured from Singapore and till date, the recovery rate has been one out of every 4 oocytes that have been vitrified. Hence the technique needs to be improvised before it can be readily available for our patients.