Men with low or no sperm
count can now impregnate women
By AZOMA CHIKWE
Tuesday, July 17,
2007
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•Baby Monica
PHOTO The Sun Publishing |
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Testicular sperm extraction-introcytoplasmic sperm injection
(TESE – ICSI) offers men with almost no spermatozoa the possibility to have
children of their own.
Speaking on the technique, Dr A. Adeyemi Bero, medical
director of Roding Medical Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, disclosed that on February
19, 2007, a baby girl, Monica Bayo, who weighed 3.4kg at birth was delivered by
caesarean section after undergoing the treatment at the centre.
Explaining
the techniques, Dr Adeyemi – Bero said men with azoospermia, who were previously
considered hopelessly infertile men can make a woman pregnant, if mature sperm
cells can be harvested from the testes.
TESE involves extracting testicular
tissues by biopsy to obtain mature sperm cells. Mature sperm cells got from the
testicular extract is now injected into mature egg. Embryos formed will be transferred
into the already prepared womb for implantation. This process is the same for
men who have done vasectomy.
According to Adeyemo – Bero, "in
the 1980s, if a man had no sperm cells in his ejaculate or he has had vasectomy
(removal of the tube that helps transport mature sperm cells from the epidigymis
to the urethra of the penis), he would have been told by the doctors that he has
no hope of impregnating a woman and that he would not father a child. However,
there is now hope for men who have azospermia (the total absence of sperm cells
whether dead or living in the semen or an ejaculate of a man) to father a child,
following the successful delivery of Testicular Sperm Extraction – Intracytoplasmic
Sperm Injection (TESE-ICSI) baby in February, 2007, at The Roding Medical Centre,
Victoria Island, Lagos."
"About three million babies have been born
through IVF and other Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) since the world’s
first IVF baby, Louise Brown was born in 1978. Moreover, IVF is here in Nigeria
and it has come to stay.
Couples having fertility problems do not need
to travel abroad anymore for IVF treatments because every treatment you need to
conceive your own baby is here in Nigeria. Many couples have benefited from IVF
procedures by already having babies of their own."
Advances in Assisted
Reproductive Techniques over the past 20 years, have brought the development of
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection as an important technique for the treatment of
severe male factor infertility or men with low sperm count. Everyone in Africa
believes that whenever a couple find it difficult to achieve pregnancy, the problem
must come from the woman, but this is not true. Research has shown that there
is 50 per cent probability of a man being the cause of infertility. However, men
having low sperm count is on the increase.
"The ICSI process starts
with the woman taking fertility drugs to stimulate the production of more eggs,
the eggs are harvested or collected and fertilized in the laboratory by injecting
a single sperm cell into a mature egg and after 24 hours embryos are formed, which
are transferred into the womb of the woman, which has been prepared with fertility
drugs to receive the embryos. A positive pregnancy test after two weeks of uterine
embryo transfer means pregnancy has taken place. ICSI offers the possibility to
men with almost no spermatozoa to have children of their own."
"With
the advent of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, men with azospermia who were previously
considered hopelessly infertile now can make a woman pregnant, if mature sperm
cells can be harvested from the testes. Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE) procedure
involves extracting testicular tissues by biopsy to obtain mature sperm cells.
A mature sperm cell got from the testicular extract is now injected into a mature
egg. Embryos formed will be transferred into the already prepared womb for implantation.
This process is the same for men who have done vasectomy."
"Sometime
ago, couples having infertility problem may be advised to have insemination with
donor sperm. But this has changed because ICSI can now be done with surgically
retrieved sperm cells. Several techniques are now available for the retrieval
of epididymal or testicular sperm cells."
"If you are one of these
couples having this problem, do not despair or lose hope, you can have a baby
of your own. All you need do is to visit an Assisted conception unit, where these
treatments are available and you would be counselled on the procedure that suits
your need."
"One of our TESE-ICSI babies was successfully delivered
after eight months’ pregnancy on Monday, February 19, 2007. The baby girl,
Monica Bbags, who weighed 3.4Kg at birth, was delivered by caesarian section." |
