Driving processes through high tech equipment, products and technologies

October. 2018

18

The Health

SKILLED PROFESSIONALS … LabIVF team members who continuously ensure the smooth journey of the fertility process at any lab – from sales to equipment servicing.

Although doctors and nurses are the frontline cavalry to the starting off any in vitro fertilisation( IVF) treatments, it is the support from LabIVF along with its skilled professionals who ensure the smooth supply and maintenance of the equipment both by the doctors as well as the embryologists.

WHEN DO LAB IVF COME IN?

“ We come in via our equipment, products and technologies from the moment the patient steps into the lab- the beginning when the oocyte recovery procedure / oocyte pick up( OPU) procedure takes place right until the end of the embryo transfer procedure,” explained LabIVF general manager Nisa Esa.

“ We are basically the ones who provide equipment for IVF labs. Although we do not directly provide products to the patients, our

( Front left) Nisa Esa and LabIVF deputy general manager Alan Tan Yeong Wei. equipment are used end to end by doctors and embryologist to carry out the numerous procedures involved.”

THE PROCEDURE

“ On the day of the treatment, the husband and the wife are separated – the woman is on OPU while the husband is put in a masturbation room for them to actually produce the semen sample.”

“ As for the women – after the oocyte recovery procedure, that oocyte undergoes a denudation process where it is cleaned and prepared for fertilisation / intracytoplasmic sperm injection( ICSI).”

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IVF AND ICSI

“ Now they do both – IVF and ICSI. IVF is where the embryologist just take the husband’ s sperm and put it together in one petri dish, where it is left for a few hours. The fertilisation takes place – naturally outside the body in the lab.”

“ ICSI, on the other hand is a slightly advanced procedure where the embryologist takes the best sperm from the husband and injects it directly into the wife’ s oocytes. This is done through our machines – the micro manipulator together with other equipment.”

The whole procedure for a man however, is less than half-an-hour. After semen collection, sperm washing is done prior to passing it to the embryologist to carry on with the rest of the procedure.

WHAT MAKES AN IDEAL IVF LAB?

According to Nisa, equipment used in fertility treatments have to be at their best in order to bring out accurate results.

Focusing on the need for IVF centres and fertility centres with an in-house lab with a full range of equipment that comply with the latest standards, she goes on to add that there are centres in the country that still utilise equipment that are out dated.

As the quality of the equipment will influence the success rates of IVF procedures, Nisa urged centres to only engage certified company like LabIVF to service their equipment while only purchasing equipment that are registered. She pointed out that centres often do not prioritise servicing of machines due to the minimum movements of the IVF equipment itself.

“ Any workplace is as good as the tools it employs and the same applies to IVF labs. In this case, IVF labs are required to stock themselves with powerful microscopes, state-of-the-art embryo incubators and IVF micro tools.”