Nigerian hospital pioneers novel IVF technique

A Nigerian specialist hospital, Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, has pioneered for the first time in West Africa, an In-vito Fertilisation, IVF, technique that doubles the chances of men with the problem of abnormally low sperm count and poor sperm motility to biologically father their own children.

The new technique, called Intra-Cytosplasmic Morphologically-Selected Sperm Injection, IMSI, enables the direct selection of good sperms from the man and then injecting into the woman’s egg to successfully achieve pregnancy.

Medical Director, Nordica Lagos, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, told Vanguard that series of pregnancies had already been successfully achieved by the fertility centre from the pioneering initiative. “This is the first time it would be reported that a pregnancy would be achieved through this means in this part of the world,” he said.

He said the procedure which is described as a build up on treatment for male-factor infertility treatment procedure called Intra-Cytosplasmic Sperm Injection, ICSI, allows doctors to choose only those sperms with the best morphology for use in the assisted reproduction process, using a high resolution microscope that allows exploration at several thousand times magnification.

“In ICSI the sperm is magnified 200-400 times, but in IMSI, the sperm is magnified 6,600 times , so one is seeing the sperm completely and is able to select the good ones from the bad ones. This has been shown to produce better embryos, increased pregnacy rates and reduced abortion rates in men with low sperm count,” he said.

Those who will benefit most are men in who the sperm count is very low or even those with zero sperm count or those in who the motility is low. However it is ideal for men with sperm count below five million and/or sperm motility below 20 percent.

Other groups that can benefit include couples who have had cycles of failure of In-vitro Fertilisation,IVF, as well as couples with history of recurrent first trimester miscarriage.