Clinical Pregnancy After Assisted Hatching Rate in Young women undergoing Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Problem statement: The ability of a blast cyst to hatch, or escape, from the Zona Pellucida (ZP) that surrounds and protects the embryo during its first few days of development is one of many critical events that must occur for successful reproduction. Implantation of the embryo in the uterine lining is impossible unless hatching occurs. Hard or thick ZP will therefore impaire the implantation process and reduce the pregnancy rate. Approach: Retrospective analysis of patients' records who had ICSI cycles comparing pregnancy rate for women with and without assisted hatching between Jan and Dec 2010, this was to evaluate the overall effect of AH on pregnancy rates in younger women (less than 37 years old) undergoing ICSI cycles at Mustasharak medical center, ABHA, Saudi Arabia. The studied population was divided into four different subgroups according to age and the differences in clinical pregnancy rate among the assisted hatching group and control group were calculated. Results: Clinical pregnancy rate was found to be significantly higher statistically in young women who underwent laser assisted hatching after ICSI. Conclusion: Laser assisted hatching has a positive impact on the clinical pregnancy rate following ICSI in young age group.