Every Little Bit Counts
"Little by little,
a little
becomes a lot"
The Rockefeller Fertility Advantage
We believe that each and every innovation or improvement in the fertility laboratory techniques and processes can make a difference in the successful outcome for our patients. The improvements may not be significant when statistically analyzed on their own merit, but together, they can add up and could make the difference that our patients needed to achieve their dream of having a family.
The overwhelming majority of the following proprietary services are exclusively offered at Rockefeller Fertility.
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Have you ever been told that you have "poor quality" embryos? Embryoplasty® can transform your low-quality embryos into high-quality ones.
When a fertilized egg splits from one cell into 2 cells, they usually split equally and symmetrically forming a high-quality embryo. However, some embryos do not split equally and they form fragments (like bread crumbs forming when you break a bread) while undergoing cellular division leading to a poor-quality embryo. These fragments (crumbs) are little pieces of cells that do not contain nuclei and are referred to as apoptotic because they are not-active "dead" cells. They can be problematic to embryo development because they can get in the way of the cell-to-cell interaction that embryos need to become a high-quality blastocyst
Embryoplasty® can solve the problem posed by these anucleated fragments and therefore increase the chance of implantation of your low-quality embryos to those of high-quality ones! Come in and experience the improvement we can do for your embryos.
Embryoplasty
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Freeze All Viable Eggs
Eggs come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of maturation. The maturation stages of eggs go from the "immature" germinal vesicle (GV), to "intermediate" metaphase I (M1), and finally to the "mature" or "ripe" metaphase II (M2) stage. Eggs that are M2, M1, or GV are considered viable eggs because they all have the potential to develop into embryos. Atretic eggs, those with broken or empty zona, degenerated eggs, parthenogenetic, giant eggs, and other abnormal-looking eggs are considered non-viable.
We believe that, since you are preserving your eggs for future use - like in 5 to 10 years from now, the technology may have improved by then such that your other viable eggs (M1 and GV stage eggs) which are usually not frozen by other fertility clinics, may have a better chance of producing a pregnancy.
Don't let it go to waste, save those eggs, and save your future you.
Algorithm IVF
We've put in more than 3 years of work to develop an algorithm to maximize the number of eggs that fertilize when performing Conventional IVF insemination (meaning without using assisted fertilization technique called ICSI).
Conventional IVF is the traditional method of fertilizing eggs, performed by adding between 50,000 to 100,000 sperm cells to each egg and allowing natural fertilization to occur. Some patients and clinics prefer this method of fertilizing eggs because it resembles the natural fertilization events inside the woman's body and some studies show that the resulting embryos are of higher quality. The drawback to Conventional IVF is that fertilization is unpredictable, some patients will have good fertilization rates, some fair, some poor, and some with complete failure of fertilization (zero % fertilized).
From our time-consuming studies, we were able to determine the type of sperm that has the potential to fertilize the egg and were able to calculate the number of sperm cells to add to each egg based on the quality of sperm thereby maximizing fertilization potential.
Algorithm IVF is the system we developed wherein the number of sperm used in inseminating the eggs is adjusted based on the quality of motile sperm instead of the traditional 50,000 to 100,000 sperm cells per egg. Using Algorithm IVF, we were able to achieve consistently high fertilization rates for all types of sperm samples, even those with less than 4% strict morphology which had been problematic with Conventional IVF because they often result in poor fertilization or even complete failure of fertilization.
No Eggs Left Behind
Cumulus cells give the eggs their characteristic translucent appearance making them easy to spot because they stand out from all the other cells that are aspirated from the follicles. Unfortunately, some of the eggs retrieved contain varying amounts of cumulus cells, ranging from large amounts to the absence of cumulus cells (denuded eggs). Denuded eggs are those with scanty cumulus cells that are very difficult to identify and can be missed during egg retrieval.
Identifying eggs among all the different cells aspirated from follicles can sometimes be like finding a needle in a haystack, it can be very difficult.
We developed our own technique to ensure that all the eggs aspirated from your ovaries are found no matter how many cumulus cells they contain. We check, double-check, triple-check, and even quadruple-check all the cells to ensure we didn't miss any eggs.
You have a limited supply of eggs so we consider your eggs to be very precious so we do not leave any of your eggs behind. These recovered eggs we diligently found could make the difference between pregnancy and not.
No Stress Sperm Preparation
IVF, ICSI, and IUI require the use of cleansed motile sperm cells. Semen samples contain numerous substances that are detrimental to eggs thereby the need to separate the motile sperm cells from the semen. Sperm cell preparation usually requires centrifugation (usually at least twice), washing, and swim-up to isolate the motile sperm cells.
The centrifugation steps in sperm washing are very stressful events for sperm cells. We use a technique that isolates motile sperm cells without any centrifugation at all to maintain sperm integrity and avoid damage caused by centrifugation.
High Resolution ICSI
Studies have shown that semen samples with greater than 14% normal morphology yield a high fertilization rate and those with less than 4% normal forms result in very low fertilization, therefore we believe that a sperm cell must have a normal oval shape (and motile, of course) to fertilize an egg when performing conventional IVF insemination.
One of the steps involved in ICSI is picking up a single sperm cell to inject into the egg.
High-Definition ICSI is the use of a very high magnification objective lens when selecting a motile sperm for ICSI in order to ensure that we are selecting a sperm cell with a normal oval form and with no other deformities. Higher-quality embryos are usually attained when morphologically normal sperm cells are used to fertilize the eggs.
Minimal Stress ICSI
ICSI involves the use of a holding pipet to keep the egg in place and in injection pipet to inject the sperm inside the egg. Pinching by the holding pipet and the zigzag movement of the injection pipet can be very stressful to the egg so we developed an ICSI technique that avoids these stressors.
Less stress = higher fertilization rate and higher embryo quality. The national average ICSI fertilization rate is around 60%, ours is greater than 80%.
On Your Eggs' Schedule
When undergoing ovarian stimulation, follicles do not all grow at the same rate, some mature faster than others which means that the eggs they contain are also in different states of maturation. Mature eggs, M2, fertilize very well, usually higher than 70%. Immature eggs, those at the GV stage, will not fertilize when inseminated.
Intermediate eggs, those that are at the metaphase I (M1) stage will sometimes fertilize when inseminated by either conventional insemination or ICSI but they fertilize better when we wait for them to mature before doing the insemination.
We know how precious your eggs are so we do not subscribe to the regular 9-5 work hours. We work based on your eggs' schedule.
IVM
In-Vitro Maturation means in-the-glass maturation which is the maturation of eggs in the laboratory.
IVM is a technique developed to mature eggs from patients that are not given the trigger shot for several reasons, like avoidance of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in PCOS patients and avoidance of the trigger-shot hormone in cancer patients
No Stress Egg And Embryo Handling
We try, as much as possible, to imitate the natural environment in which the eggs and embryos develop when in the laboratory.
Therefore we use a special chamber in handling eggs and embryos in order to maintain the pH and temperature and to make them believe as if they are still inside the human body.
Rescue ICSI
Ever been disappointed to hear that none of your eggs were fertilized? Or that only 10 to 20% of your eggs were fertilized?
Rescue ICSI is the process of re-inseminating eggs that failed fertilization the first time around. Chances of getting pregnant from rescue ICSI is very low, but it is better than zero.
Motile Sperm Morphology
Sperm morphology determined from unprocessed semen sample is used to predict the probability of fertilization in conventional IVF. Greater than 14% normal forms mean high fertilization rate and those with less than 4% could mean low or failed fertilization.
We assess morphology only on motile sperm cells to increase accuracy and reliability especially when we use our proprietary AI IVF technique.
Gender Only Test
We relish in the challenge that patients present when they have failed in their previous IVF cycles elsewhere. We love trying to figure things out and finding solutions to difficult cases and we enjoy the success when things go well and get positive results.
Stress-Free Labeling
Approximately one in 100 women experiences the heartache of recurrent miscarriages. It is often unclear why it happens and doctors cannot find a reason in about half of all cases.
Our reproductive specialists can help to identify some of the problems that cause women to miscarry
Labware Detoxification
Commonly referred to as Artificial Insemination, IUI is the first line of defense in your quest for parenthood before moving on to the advanced assisted reproduction procedure called IVF. IUI is a process where washed sperm cells are placed directly inside the uterus around the time of ovulation in order to increase the probability of conception as opposed to timed sexual intercourse.e fertility.
Media Replenish
Modern women are very focused on their career such that they run the risk of having trouble starting a family when they try having one due to advance age. By freezing their eggs while they are in their prime fertile age, women can focus on other areas of their lives without sacrificing their chances of having a family later on in their life.
Custom Tools
IVF is the last resort in infertility treatment. In-Vitro means "in-the glass", thereby In- Vitro Fertilization is fertilization occuring in the glass petri dishes in the embryology laboratory. In-Vivo ("inside-the-body") Fertilization, on the other hand, is the natural process of fertilization occuring inside the body after sexual intercourse during natural conception.