Saudi Arabia is the first country in the Middle East to be home to a pioneering giant microscope to treat infertility and increase the likelihood of test-tube reproduction.
The giant microscope enlarges photographs of sperm by up to 16,000 times. The person behind its introduction into the Kingdom is Jeddah-based Dr. Samir Abbas, one of the Middle East’s pioneering infertility surgeons, who has been involved with test-tube babies since 1984.
Speaking to Arab News, Dr. Abbas said, “The device enlarges photographs of sperm by up to 16,000 times, a gigantic leap from conventional microscopes which are only capable of enlarging images by 400 times.”
He added that the new microscope would allow embryologists to select sperm that is safe and free from deformities, thus increasing the chances of pregnancies and reducing the likelihood of a miscarriage.
“The device would be used for Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), a popular method to treat delays in conception, particularly after the failure of traditional methods of treatment,” said Dr. Abbas.
Explaining how microscopic injection works, Dr. Abbas said mature ovum taken from the wife’s ovary is injected with healthy sperm, which is selected according to its quality using a gigantic microscope.
“The quality of sperm plays a crucial role in both the ability of the sperm to fertilize the ovum but also in the formation of a high-quality embryo, which is essential for a successful pregnancy,” he said, adding that the new device, which has only recently been developed, enables embryologists to choose sperm that is deform-free and sound.
“It further allows the enlarging of photographs of sperm by up to 16,000 times, thus giving a detailed and clear picture, and allowing experts to see deformations, particularly in the nucleus, which would be missed and is usually responsible for low pregnancy rates,” he added.
Dr. Abbas said recent scientific studies have shown that the use of the device has doubled the number of pregnancies, especially in cases concerning men who suffer from a scarcity of sperm or sperm-deformity.
“According to several studies, the chance of pregnancy using the new device has risen by up to 60 percent compared to the prevailing ratio of 20-40 percent,” said Dr. Abbas.
He added that although ICSI has helped cure many cases of sterility, repeated failure might be due to chosen sperm being abnormal, something that cannot be seen by the ordinary microscopes used at test-tube baby centers.
“About 50 percent of infertility cases concern men whose seminal fluid contain either little or rare sperm, or whose sperm moves slowly, or whose sperm has a large ratio of deformity that goes up to 99 percent, especially among men who need to have testicular biopsy due to a complete absence of sperms in their seminal fluid,” he said.