Fertilization is a sequence of biological events which allow the genetic material contained in the sperm cell to enter the egg in order to produce an embryo. As it can be seen in the image on the right, the so-called “zygote” is the egg which now contains two packages of chromosomes (one from each progenitor).
There are two ways of achieving in vitro fertilization: one is spontaneous, that is, making it possible for the sperm cell to penetrate the egg using natural mechanisms. That is, the sperm cell uses its own energy and motility to have direct contact with the egg.
The other mechanism is ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection), in which, under microscopic guidance, with a micro pipette, one sperm cell is injected into the egg. ICSI was developed for conditions in which the sperm cannot enter on its own; however, nowadays most procedures are ICSI, even though there may not be a determining male factor.
As seen in Figure 4, at each age studied, the probabilities of pregnancy and delivery are the same with IVF and ICSI. Some centers are more used to one technique and, unless there are biological conditions hindering spontaneous fertilization, there are no reasons to force one technique over the other.
Figure 4. Comparison of pregnancy and delivery rates after IVF and ICSI.
The Latin American Registry of Assisted Reproduction (RLA) thanks the 204 institutions accredited by REDLARA which, every year, report their data to RLA.
This voluntary and rigorous contribution makes it possible to generate a powerful database, which helps doctors and patients take decisions based on the best existing regional evidence.
This educational portal is the result of a collaborative activity between the Latin American Network of Assisted Reproduction (REDLARA), and University Diego Portales from Chile, which allow the link between the reproductive science and technology advances with the needs of people suffering from infertility and other forms of reproductive impairments.
We thank Dr. Ariel Ahumanda and Dr. Gustavo Martínez from Argentina for: images and videos of spontaneous in vitro fertilization, ICSI and PGT,
Dr. Roger Molinas from Paraguay for: videos of follicular aspiration and embryo transfer,
Dr. Javier Crosby from Chile for: images of different stages of in vitro embryo development,
Dr. Yasuyuki Mio from Japan for his video of in vitro embryo development.
We especially thank the industry for providing the financial support, which is so necessary to keep the Latin American registry as a pillar of this international cooperation, which today includes 16 countries and more than 200 collaborative institutions, from Mexico in the north to Chile in the far south.
