• The benefits of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) are well-known. It has been used for years now in the treatment of sports injuries. It has even been utilised for hair loss, anti-ageing skincare, and arthritis.
• The plasma is taken from the patient’s own blood, then the PRP, which is rich in natural growth factors, is injected back into the body at the site of the injury. This stimulates growth and repair tissues in the body, speeding up regeneration, healing, and reducing inflammation.

1. If you are undergoing IVF treatment, your consultant will have spoken to you about Physiological Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (PICSI). PICSI is a method of selecting the best possible sperm for fertilisation before injection into the egg in the IVF protocol. Sperm are placed in the PICSI dish containing samples of hyaluronan (a naturally occurring biopolymer found in all human cells) hydrogel. Sperm are selected according to how well they bind to the hyaluronan around an egg cell. Mature, biochemically competent sperm bind are then isolated by the embryologist and used for ICSI.
2. The selected sperm is essentially the same as one that would be successful in the natural reproductive process. The more mature a sperm cell, the more able it is to bind to hyaluronic acid, meaning that it is better suited to fertilising the egg.
3. PICSI is highly recommended in these particular cases:

• Previous failure or low fertilisation even after ICSI.
• Low embryo quality or their failure to develop (not related to poor egg quality).
• Repeated miscarriages.

• Normally five to six images are taken of the embryos to assess their progress – but with the embryoscope we can capture over 5,000 images and a video recording, for an even more precise assessment of the embryos to choose from.
• The embryoscope is an incubator designed to recreate the conditions needed to support an embryo in a laboratory setting. It has a built-in microscope and camera that observes the embryos and takes pictures of each embryo every 10-20 minutes (Time Lapse Imaging). By reviewing these pictures and the video recording, we are able to closely monitor the progress of the embryos – which allows us to select the strongest ones to be implanted.
• Usually in IVF/ICSI, the embryos are taken out from the incubator on a daily basis so that their progress can be checked. This might expose the embryos to suboptimal conditions, particularly in terms of temperature. However, using the embryoscope means that the embryos are checked undisturbed in the same optimal environment for five days.
• A recent study showed a correlation between assessing the embryos via Time Lapse Imaging and chromosomal integrity of the embryos. Choosing the embryos of low risk chromosomal abnormality improved the pregnancy rate by 56%. However, this is a preliminary small study and the conclusion needs to be confirmed in bigger prospective studies.

Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS/PGT-A) What is it?

• Pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) involves detection of any numerical chromosome abnormalities in the embryo before its transfer to the uterus during an IVF/ICSI treatment.
• What does it do?: This process avoids the transfer of abnormal embryos to the womb. Chromosome abnormalities can cause failure of embryos to implant (causing repeated unsuccessful cycles of IVF) and recurrent miscarriage.
• There have been recent enhancements to this technique which have made possible the screening of all 23 pairs of chromosomes within an embryo.
• Please note: Any patients undergoing PGS (PGT-A) will be provided with this PGT-A Patient Information Leaflet and this PGT-A Consent Form. Please refer to these for further information.