 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
|
| (800) 800-1160 | ||
|
|
|
| Meet the Experts |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Our Mission | |
|
|
|
|
| Testimonials | |
|
 Japanese version |
|
|
 Russian version |
|
|
|
|
|
Home > Services
Services
Zouves Fertility Center provides comprehensive services, including conventional IVF,
IVF with Egg Donation and IVF with Surrogacy. Zouves Fertility Center's state of the
art Embryology Laboratory under the direction of Frank Barnes,
PhD., is staffed with experienced embryologists offering
PGD, ICSI, assisted hatching, and blastocyst transfer. This
team, including and participating urologists, has performed
over 500 TESE procedures together. Additionally,
Zouves Fertility Center offers the latest testing such as PGD and immunological therapy.
In-vitro fertilization (IVF)
In this procedure, eggs are removed from the woman's body, and are fertilized in a petri dish using partner's sperm or donor sperm. The embryos are subsequently transferred into the woman's uterus, where implantation should occur. Thanks to a host of medical breakthroughs, including those addressing male factor infertility and implantation. IVF has become a viable option for an increasing number of patients.
Egg Donation
Women who are unable to produce healthy eggs, but have a healthy uterus are candidates for egg donation with IVF. This procedure is the same as described above, except a donor's egg is used to create the embryo.
IVF Surrogacy
Embryos created from the eggs and sperm of both members of the infertile couple are transferred to the uterus of a third party, or surrogate. The surrogate provides a host womb for the offspring, and does not contribute genetic material.
Male Factor ICSI
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) provides help for men with severe sperm dysfunction. In this procedure, a single sperm is micromanipulated and captured in a glass needle and is injected directly into the egg.
Male Factor TESE
Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE). Under local anesthesia, a small amount of testicular tissue is removed. Sperm are then isolated and a single sperm injected into each egg. Fertilization rates with testicular sperm are no different from ejaculated sperm.
Male factor ICSI and TESE have all but eliminated the need for vasectomy reversal and have significantly reduced the need for donor sperm.
Day 3 Transfer or Blastocyst Transfer
Depending on your circumstance a traditional day 3 transfer or else a more advanced 5 to 6 day embryo transfer may be appropriate. This additional time allows for identification of the healthier and more robust embryos, which have the highest potential for implantation. With blastocyst transfer, fewer embryos (generally only two) are transferred to the womb, therefore reducing the risk of multiple gestation.
Immunology
For some patients a reaction of the immunological system may impair the embryo's ability to attach to the uterine lining and flourish, causing recurrent failed IVF cycles or pregnancy loss. Appropriate testing may suggest therapy as simple as a baby aspirin or as complicated as immunization with patient's white blood cells (PLI) or a new class of anti-inflammatory medication called COX 2 inhibitors like Enbrel or Humira.
Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGD/PGS)
PGD is an intricate procedure which involves removing a single cell from a three-day old embryo and testing it for abnormalities. PGD/PGS permits the selection of embryos, which are less likely to have chromosomal abnormalities and also embryos that may be free of a known single gene disorder, thereby increasing the likelihood of a healthy baby and decreasing the chances of having to terminate a pregnancy found to be abnormal through chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis.
Assisted Hatching
To improve the chances of successful implantation some embryos are subjected to assisted hatching by zona drilling. The process involves using a weak acid solution or a lazer to make a small hole in the outer shell (zona pellucida) of each embryo that is to be transferred. Making this hole allows the embryo to escape its shell and then implant into the uterine lining. Assited Hatching is most often indicated for women who are: 38 years or older that has had adequate embryo production in the past but fail to become pregnant, women with a high FSH, or suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome and women with thickened zona pellucida.
Cryopreservation
Human embryos have been frozen and thawed since the mid-1980 s but have resulted in lower pregnancy rates than those obtained when using fresh embryos. The traditional "slow freeze" method of cryopreserving embryos involves moving fresh embryos directly from room temperature to -6.5 degrees C (20 degrees F). At this point "seeding," or the induction of ice crystal formation, occurs before further slow freezing to -38 degrees C (-36 degrees F). Finally the embryos are plunged directly into liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees C (-321 degrees F.)
A new technique for egg and embryo cryopreservation has recently been described and perfected in Japan. This technique, called vitrification or "changing into glass" is similar to what is commonly known as "flash freeze." Because fewer ice crystals are formed within cells with vitrification than with slow freeze, survival rates are higher. Two years ago we at Zouves Fertility Center, started using the vitrification process exclusively for Day 5 and 6 embryos. With this new technique of cryopreservation known as the Kitazato Cryotop vitrification method, post-thaw survival rates have increased dramatically to over 90%. Since the beginning of 2009, we have moved completely to vitrification for all embryos including day one, day three and as before, our day five and day six embryos.
The breakthrough of vitrification allows us to reliably store eggs that can then be thawed and fertilized at a later stage resulting in embryos and ongoing pregnancies. We have an ongoing pregnancy from the first frozen thawed egg procedure that we have performed. This breakthrough has huge implications for women to be able to bank their unfertilized eggs allowing them to suspend the biological clock and to have their own genetic children at an age when their fresh eggs may have deteriorated or even when they have become menopausal.
Up until this time, many woman have had to make the very difficult choice to postpone childbearing while they pursued a career, only to find that when the time became right for having a family, the eggs were of less good quality or even no longer available due to the perimenopause. The playing field between the sexes has now been leveled with the availability of reliable vitrification of eggs and women will now be able to proactively store their genetic material so that they may have children with their own "donor eggs" later on in life when they have identified a partner or else with donated sperm which could be either anonymous or known.
The availability of reliable vitrification is probably the single most important advance in assisted reproduction since the introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in the mid-90s and this should allow reproductive choice for women that did not exist in the past.
Vitrification of eggs
The breakthrough of vitrification allows us to reliably store eggs that can then be thawed and fertilized at a later stage resulting in embryos and ongoing pregnancies. We have an ongoing pregnancy from the first frozen thawed egg procedure that we have performed. This breakthrough has huge implications for women to be able to bank their unfertilized eggs allowing them to suspend the biological clock and to have their own genetic children at an age when their fresh eggs may have deteriorated or even when they have become menopausal.
Up until this time, many woman have had to make the very difficult choice to postpone childbearing while they pursued a career, only to find that when the time became right for having a family, the eggs were of less good quality or even no longer available due to the perimenopause. The playing field between the sexes has now been leveled with the availability of reliable vitrification of eggs and women will now be able to proactively store their genetic material so that they may have children with their own "donor eggs" later on in life when they have identified a partner or else with donated sperm which could be either anonymous or known.
The availability of reliable vitrification is probably the single most important advance in assisted reproduction since the introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in the mid-90s and this should allow reproductive choice for women that did not exist in the past.
Storage of Embryos
Extra embryos generated during your cycle at Zouves Fertility Center, may be stored for future use if they are of sufficient quality. As part of your IVF cycle, we will store these embryos for up to twelve months and if at that time you are not ready to use them for a frozen embryo transfer, we would recommend that you move them to a long term storage facility where they can be safely and economically stored until you may need them in the future.
©2010, Zouves Fertility Center
Located at 1241 East Hillsdale Blvd, Ste 100 Foster City, CA 94404
Patient Services: (800) 800-1160 Office: (650) 378-1000
Website & Video by Streamsights