Rated grey by the HFEA for increasing the chances of having a baby for most fertility patients

What is assisted hatching?

The egg and early embryo are surrounded by a thick layer of special proteins called the zona pellucida. Before an embryo can implant in the womb it has to break out or ‘hatch’ from its zona pellucida. Some people think that assisted hatching – using acid, lasers or other tools to thin or make a hole in the zona pellucida – helps the embryo to ‘hatch’.

Risks of assisted hatching

Assisted hatching does not carry any known additional risks for the person undergoing fertility treatment. However, there is always some risk of damaging embryos with these types of procedures.

Evidence

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) does not recommended assisted hatching as it has not been shown to improve pregnancy rates. NICE also says that further research is needed to find out whether assisted hatching influences birth rates and to examine the consequences for children born as a result of this procedure. Some clinics believe assisted hatching can lead to higher birth rates in specific subgroups of patients. There is however no good quality evidence to support the use of assisted hatching for any patient.

Aria’s view

Here at Aria we do not routinely offer assisted hatching as a treatment add-on in fresh treatment cycles. We do perform assisted hatching on all frozen/thawed embryo(s) for which there is no charge. Evidence suggests that embryos that undergo vitrification may develop a harder zona pellucida, making assisted hatching a potential method to increase their chances of implantation (Zeng 2018; Martins 2011).

Please inform staff if you would like to request to opt out of us performing assisted hatching, or you wish to discuss this further with our embryology team.