Laser Assisted Hatching

This process causes thinning of the outer shell, zona pellucida of the embryo before transferring them into the womb. This helps the embryo to hatch out easily during implantation. It may increase the chances of pregnancy in some but not all IVF.

Why Assisted Hatching?

In natural conception, as soon as an egg is fertilized by a single sperm, the outer wall of the egg, zona pellucida thickens to prevent the entry of other sperms. This fertilized egg travels down the fallopian tube to reach the uterus, the fertilized egg hatches or comes out of this thick zona pellucida and implantation takes place in the uterus 6-7 days after fertilization. Assisted hatching is based on the same principle, when an egg is fertilized by the sperm in a laboratory, it forms an embryo which is covered by zona pellucida. With assisted hatching, a small hole is created in zona pellucida on day 3 or day 5 before embryo transfer which allows the embryo to hatch out of the zona pellucida and attach to the walls of the uterus.