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 .”