Assisted hatching in
TFP Fertility Austria

Assisted hatching is not recommended for all IVF and ICSI patients.  

It’s most suitable for patients who: 

• Are over the age of 38 

• Have had multiple unsuccessful IVF of ICSI attempts with no known issues with their embryos 

• Have embryos that have been frozen during the frozen embryo transfer process, that may have developed a thickened zona 

Our experienced clinicians at TFP Fertility clinics will discuss whether assisted hatching is right for your individual situation. 

With any procedure comes some risk. Although the overall process is safe, in some rare cases, there’s a small risk the embryo can be damaged during the assisted hatching process. 

If the embryo is damaged, it cannot be used in the embryo transfer. 

Assisted hatching may increase implantation in some cases though currently, in most cases assisted hatching has the same success rates as normal IVF procedures.  

There’s not enough strong evidence to suggest that assisted hatching will increase your chances of getting pregnant during IVF or ICSI treatments. 

The results of assisted hatching studies remain inconclusive and more research needs to be done in this area.  

If you’d like to know more about assisted hatching, you can contact us, and our experienced fertility team will help guide you and answer any questions you may have.  

Assisted hatching will take place right before the embryo is transferred.  

Embryos (fertilised eggs) are surrounded by a thick shell known as the zona pellucida (zona).   

Before the embryo can attach to the womb, it must ‘hatch’ and break out of the zona. This process is known as hatching.  

If the embryo can’t hatch, it won’t be able to attach itself to the lining of the womb. This results in an unsuccessful implantation, and no pregnancy occurs.  

This is where assisted hatching comes in.

The process involves the TFP embryologist using a precision laser to make a small hole in the zona to help the embryo hatch out and implant successfully into the womb. 

The embryo cells are not affected by assisted hatching.

The embryo is then transferred into the womb, and you’ll have regular check-ups with your doctor to see how the pregnancy progresses.