The Punta Pacifica Reproduction Center - Infertility Specialists
Since the birth of the first baby born by an In Vitro Fertilization, the efforts to solve the problems of infertility have not ceased and the advancements have been many. The medicines and hormones used for controlled ovarian hyper-stimulation with multiple follicles are much safer. We now have recombined hormones with which we obtain a more predictable response, controlled, homogeneous, and with better pregnancy rates. We now perform follicular aspiration to obtain ovules under local anesthesia, guided by a vaginal ultrasound, instead of using laparoscopy which is a more complex procedure. The Punta Pacifica Reproduction Center is the most complete and advanced infertility center in the Republic of Panama, with equipment, techniques, and abilities found no other place in Latin America. (more)
Infertility: If getting pregnant has been a challenge for you and your partner, you're not alone. Ten percent to 15 percent of couples are infertile. Infertility is defined as not being able to get pregnant despite having frequent, unprotected sex for at least a year. If you've been trying to conceive for more than a year, there's a chance that something may be interfering with your efforts to have a child. Infertility may be due to a single cause in either you or your partner, or a combination of factors that may prevent a pregnancy from occurring or continuing. Most pregnancies occur during the first six cycles of intercourse in the fertile phase. Overall, after 12 months of unprotected intercourse, approximately 85 percent of couples will become pregnant. Over the next 36 months, about 50 percent of the remaining couples will go on to conceive spontaneously. If a woman keeps having miscarriages, it is also called infertility. Many couples have infertility problems. About a third of the time infertility can be traced to the woman. In another third of cases the cause is the man. The rest of the time it is because of both partners or no cause is found. Women in their 30s who have been trying to get pregnant for six months should consider seeking help. A woman's chances of having a baby naturally drop rapidly every year after age 30.
- In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): A technique in which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the woman's womb, in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed. The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova (eggs) from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilize them in a fluid medium. The fertilized egg (zygote) is then transferred to the patient's uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy.
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
- Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI): Intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (ICSI) is a laboratory procedure developed to help infertile couples undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) due to male factor infertility. ICSI, a form of micromanipulation, involves the injection of a single sperm directly into the cytoplasm of a mature egg (oocyte) using a glass needle (pipette). This process increases the likelihood of fertilization when there are abnormalities in the number, quality, or function of the sperm. ICSI is generally unsuccessful when used to treat fertilization failures that are primarily due to poor egg quality. A variety of abnormalities can cause male infertility. Sperm can be completely absent from the ejaculate (azoospermia) or present in low concentrations (oligospermia). Sperm may have poor motility (asthenospermia) or have an increased percentage of abnormal shapes (teratospermia). There may also be functional abnormalities which prevent the sperm from binding to and/or fertilizing the egg.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
In the Reproduction Laboratory the procedures are followed with established manuals by international networks with which there is communication and an exchange of knowledge, so that Biologists-Embryologists obtain a better discipline, better controls and there is a way to monitor the results of the centers, as well as the internal gasses of the incubators and environment, cameras of laminar fluid and other equipment.
It is not necessary to prepare a medium for cultures; they are commercially obtainable and it is possible to arrive easily to the stage of blastocytes, thus obtaining embryos with more vitality and diminishing the number of transferred embryos so as to diminish the multiple pregnancies, which are considered a reproductive error.
Embryo Transfer: It is no longer a blind procedure, as it is done under the abdominal ultrasound guide, with ultra-soft characters and ecotip points that allow embryos to be placed in the exact place of the uterine cavity or endometrium
The man who has infertility by severe masculine factor, has his problem solved now by means of an injection intra-cytoplasm of only one spermatozoa to the ovule (I. C. S. I.), even in cases of azoospermia or lack of spermatozoon, with the aspiration of the epididymis, or if necessary of the testicle with only one spermatozoa, including one spermatid, a pregnancy may be obtained.
To those women who will receive chemotherapy or radiotherapy due to cancer, or those patients who present an excessive response or a poor response to inductor hormones of ovulation, as in the case of some women who are suffering from Polycystic Ovaries (P.C.O.) the follicles can be vacuumed, without having to use inductor hormones for ovulation, that is, in one natural cycle an I.V.F. is performed, usually obtaining even more than twenty ovules, thus eliminating the risk of ovarian hyper-stimulation. Ripening these ovules or immature oöcytes in the laboratory (OVULE RIPENING IN VITRO) and after ripening them (IVM) proceed to perform the I.C.S.I. to obtain a pregnancy.
Freezing of the Ovules or Vitrification: The vitrification method helps the women that want to preserve their fertility and future maternity, by freezing their young ovules to use them in a more advance age with the benefit of having their healthy ovules. This technique also helps women that will receive chemotherapy that could harm their reproductive system, women that work in high risk areas.
CRPP has a Donor ovule bank, for women that are infertile for different reasons and want to get pregnant. The donors are submitted to a very rigorous program: A confidential questionnaire signed by the donor, gynecologic studies, pap smear, laboratory including HIV, VDRL, hepatitis and others, also genetic tests and a genetic counseling.
Embryo with small hole done by the laser system
Assisted Hatching: Before the embryo transfer patients a thick embryo membrane are submitted to the following procedure called assisted hatching in which by means of a laser system and the micromanipulator microscope we open a small orifice to the thick embryo membrane to help the embryo come out or hatch. This method help the women with advanced age in which the embryos fragmented, patients with high levels of FSH hormone, or had several IVF trials with no results.
FISH with Trisomia 16
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD): In those couples with previous family or personal congenital or genetic defects, or who are older than 38 years, we diagnose those embryos with defects in the chromosomes, illnesses linked to sex or genetics. This we do with a blastomere biopsy with FLUORESCENT IN SITU HYBRIDIZATION (FISH). We diagnose problems in the 13, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, X, Y chromosomes with the P.C.R. method. With the use of the LASER we can easily do a blastomere biopsy without harming the development and evolution of the embryo.
4D Ultrasound
Other advancements have been made such as Rejuvenating Ovules with cytoplasm of a donated ovule, which fell in disuse for being in theory, potentially risky, even though normal babies were born by this method.
In the Punta Pacifica Reproduction Center we have obtained pregnancy rates well over the averages in Panama and in the world. Actually we are the only center in Panama with our own facilities and necessary equipment to perform: Freezing Ovules by the Genetic Vitrification method, In Vitro Maturing Ovules (IVM), Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). In addition, we have all other capabilities to diagnose and treat the infertile couple.
Contact Information:
- Office Location: Consultorios Médicos Punta Pacífica, 6th Floor, Suite 612, Punta Pacifica Hospital, Affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Panamá, República de Panamá
- Telephone: (To Make An Appointment) In Panama +011 (507) 204-8514 or 204-8515
- Cell Phone: Dr. Mario Vega Rich - +011 (507) 6612-7035
- Via Email: mvega@ivfpanama.com
- Website: ivfpanama.com
