Fear of giving birth to a deformed child
Married in 2011, Mr. Hai (45 years old) and his wife eagerly waited for a child but the joy never came. In 2013, from Hau Giang to Ho Chi Minh City for a check-up, Mr. Hai was surprised to receive the result that his sperm was weak and deformed up to 99%, making it difficult to have children naturally.
The happiness of doctors and infertile couples with "Tam Anh babies"
Within 4 years, Mr. Hai and his wife did in vitro fertilization (IVF) in many places, performed 3 IVF cycles, but 8 embryo transfers failed. Of these, 5 times there was no fetal heartbeat, 2 times biochemical pregnancy, and 1 time the baby girl was born prematurely but had a brain hernia. The baby died a year later.
"The consecutive losses made my wife depressed, not daring to think about getting pregnant because of the fear of giving birth to a deformed child, not being able to be human," said Mr. Hai.
Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu performs egg retrieval for a patient
In 2022, when seeing many people in the same situation successfully treated at the Center for Assisted Reproduction at Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City (IVFTA-HCMC) and gave birth to healthy children, the couple's dream of having children boiled up again. At the age of 44, after more than 10 years of marriage, Mr. Hai encouraged his wife to "gamble" one last time.
Unexpectedly, the couple's condition worsened, Mr. Hai was diagnosed with "hidden sperm" (sperm is sometimes present and sometimes absent) and 99% of sperm are deformed. Ms. Phuong's ovaries were "exhausted" after many previous egg stimulations, the ovarian reserve index (AMH) was only 0.3. Holding the test results in hand, they thought that the chance of becoming parents was closed, but the doctors at IVF Tam Anh encouraged them to "fight tenaciously".
Embryologists select prime embryos using artificial intelligence-based embryo analysis software
"The doctor accepted to choose a difficult problem, not giving up the last remaining chance for you to fulfill your dream, so are you ready to fight together?", the warm and confident suggestion of Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu, Director of the Center for Reproductive Support at Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, gave Mr. Hai and his wife more motivation and a premonition of good things to come.
As with all patients coming to IVF Tam Anh, Dr. Nhu started to build a "personalized" treatment regimen for Mr. Hai and his wife. The husband underwent micro-TESE surgery to find sperm. With a modern surgical microscope system with a magnification of 200 times, a wide field of view, clear images..., the doctors successfully "scoured" 8 precious "sperm" that were qualified to be frozen. Ms. Phuong received mild ovarian stimulation, "egg collection" for 3 cycles, enough for 8 mature eggs.
The initial results are satisfactory enough to perform in vitro fertilization. However, the process of creating and culturing embryos will be a challenge for LAB experts because of the requirement to minimize failure with these "super precious" egg and sperm samples.
All embryos were cultured in a time-lapse cabinet system equipped with a 360-degree camera for continuous observation, integrated with AI software to analyze embryos. The results were 3 good embryos on day 5. The most modern machinery and equipment system helps detect and eliminate 2 embryos with abnormal chromosome division up to 70%. Chromosomal abnormalities are the cause of failed embryo implantation, or biochemical pregnancy, miscarriage and fetal malformation. Fortunately, the remaining embryo developed normally, gave good data, and scored very high.
"When we selected a good embryo, we decided to monitor the endometrium according to the natural cycle without using drugs. As expected, the wife became pregnant after the only embryo transfer on day 5. The fetus developed healthily," said Dr. Giang Huynh Nhu.
In May 2023, Mr. Hai, with his gray hair, held his healthy 3.2 kg son for the first time. "My whole family received complete happiness. 12 years - a very long journey and many despairs, but here, we have found sweet fruit," Mr. Hai said, his eyes filled with tears, different from his usual tough appearance.
Bold directions in the field of assisted reproduction
Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu said that the pride is also a great pressure when the Center for Reproductive Support at Tam Anh General Hospital (IVF Tam Anh) receives more than 70% of difficult cases, such as elderly patients, women with reduced ovarian reserve, multiple miscarriages, birth defects, azoospermic men with sperm donation indications and having failed many times at previous centers... They come to IVF Tam Anh with their last hope, before having to choose unwanted indications such as egg donation, sperm donation or surrogacy.
"We need a new direction, so that they have the opportunity to give birth to healthy, "genuine" children," said Dr. Nhu.
With the strength of the "three-legged stool" of female infertility - male infertility - embryology lab in the same reproductive support center, Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu is confident that she can provide the most comprehensive and optimal treatment for couples with infertility. After much consideration, the technique of egg and sperm storage for elderly patients, women with low ovarian reserve, ovarian failure and men with azoospermia, chromosomal abnormalities... is the priority choice.
The first super clean ISO 5 Lab in Vietnam, the most modern in Southeast Asia
"From a genetic perspective, the egg cell is about 10,000 times larger than the sperm, so the quality of the egg almost determines the quality of the embryo and the child's genetics. However, the egg cell is the largest in the human body and is 99% water, so it is very difficult to freeze successfully, the death rate after thawing is high. Anticipating that this is a thorny path, but it can help many infertile couples have healthy children, so we always try our best in each case," said Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu.
Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu added that, as a woman, she understands and sympathizes more than anyone else that no woman wants to ask for eggs, no man wants to ask for sperm. Despite the difficulties, they still try their best to have their own children. When choosing the direction of egg and sperm storage, different from other IVF centers, the only goal is to help couples have more embryos, increasing the chance of having their own children, especially patients with few eggs and azoospermia.
Currently, Tam Anh IVF has mastered modern vitrification techniques in egg and sperm storage. The success rate of embryo creation from stored eggs and sperm is equivalent to that of fresh eggs and sperm.
The development of micro-TESE technology is also a breakthrough that helps 75% of men with no sperm escape the risk of asking for sperm from others or adopting children. IVF Tam Anh is the only reproductive support center in Vietnam that can simultaneously perform micro-TESE microsurgery in the operating room to find samples (seminal tubules), aspirate eggs in the operating room, transfer samples and egg clusters to the adjacent lab for washing, finding sperm, and performing ICSI (injecting sperm into the egg cytoplasm to create embryos).
"For many infertile couples, embryos are sometimes more precious than gold. Therefore, we have been very strict in designing and installing gas systems, equipment and materials to protect embryos and gametes from exposure to adverse external factors," said Dr. Nhu.
In May 2021, Dr. Nhu and his colleagues successfully built an ISO 5 ultra-clean lab inside an ISO 6 embryo and gamete operation room. "Lab-in-a-lab" is the first design in the world applied to the culture of embryos and gametes. This is a special design, which separates the operation area from the culture area, thereby increasing the ability to stabilize the surrounding environment, helping embryos and gametes to develop best.
In addition to the ISO 5 standard Lab, Tam Anh IVF Labo also invests in a modern technology system with an embryo culture cabinet equipped with a continuous surveillance camera, embryo analysis software applying artificial intelligence to support embryologists in selecting the best embryos to transfer into the mother's uterus, limiting genetic defects.
At Tam Anh IVF Lab, all the most modern techniques can be applied, maximizing the success rate of IVF, such as autologous platelet-rich plasma injection (PRP), assisted hatching (AH), embryo biopsy in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGT), ERA test to determine the implantation window... Tam Anh IVF is currently leading the country in the success rate of IVF with an average of 68.5% and 70% in the group of customers under 30 years old.
Not only Mr. Hai and his wife, every year tens of thousands of couples have successfully welcomed healthy "genuine" children from the Tam Anh IVF System, instead of having to spend time, money, and effort going abroad to realize their dream of becoming parents like before.
The good news spread far and wide, many foreign customers from the Philippines, Singapore, and leading medical countries such as the US, Russia, Japan, Australia... traveled thousands of miles to IVF Tam Anh to "find" healthy children. In the first 6 months of 2023, the number of overseas Vietnamese customers coming to IVF Tam Anh for treatment increased 3 times compared to the same period last year. IVF Tam Anh, with its amazing advances in the field of reproductive support, has achieved international professionalism, creating conditions for not only domestic people to receive treatment but also opening up opportunities for the medical tourism market for foreigners coming to Vietnam.
Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu and her colleagues are still constantly striving to complete the remaining 20% of a "dream IVF center", not only with high treatment efficiency and safety but also striving for greater customer satisfaction, with more and more healthy "embryo babies" born...
"Although reproductive support in Vietnam is 20 years behind the world and 10-15 years behind other countries in the region, we can now be proud that the position and stature of Vietnamese reproductive support has reached an important position, especially in some techniques we can approach the world's leading level, gradually making IVF a spearhead in medicine and biotechnology in Vietnam," said Master - Doctor Giang Huynh Nhu.
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