Indian
Express,
TS Gopal Rethinaraj
India has not lagged behind the West in the field
of medicine but it has to accelerate certain developments
which might meet with stiff resistance here. There are
certain areas like infertility where many unorthodox clinical
practices which have received much acclaim among academicians
and practitioners could raise serious ethical questions.
Dr Bert Stewart, scientific director of the Midland Fertility
Services, England, who was in the city recently to address
a meeting on male infertility arranged by the Malpani
Infertility Clinic, said recent developments would help
males suffering from severe reproductive dysfuctions to
have a baby without any difficulty. "All that is
required is a single sperm per oocyte to have a baby,"
said Stewart explaining the new fertilisation technique
practised at his clinic and many other places in Europe.
Speaking to Express Newsline, Stewart said he has been
working for many years on 'in vitro fertilisation' (IVF)
techniques. But Intracellular Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection
(ICSI) is the buzz word today in infertility research
and clinical practice.
And Stewart took up this challenging field as soon
as it created ripples in the scientific community a
few years ago.
The technique is simple and cost-effective, he said.
In the case of ICSI, a single sperm is carefully injected
into a female egg by micromanipulation technique. Important
factors like sperm count and motility are overridden
in this case, said Stewart.
Here sperms are taken directly from the tests and are
carefully sucked by laprascopic technique using an ultra-fine
needle. The sperm thus taken from the man's testes is
then transferred to the egg taken from the woman. After
two days the fertilised embryo is then transplanted
into the uterus thereby initiating pregnancy. The testicular
sperms were in fact more effective than the ones present
in the ejaculation of such patients, Stewart said. Stewart
is encouraged by the tremendous success rate recorded
at his clinic. Despite his experience, however, the
traditional IVF accounts for 54.4 per cent of the total
treatment and ICSI, 45.6 per cent. This year, there
is an escalation in the number of patients treated successfully
by ICSI, he said.
The technique is highly suited to azoospermic patients,
ie, those who have a defective sperm generation process
and also to men whose sperms have many dynamical ineffectiveness.
"I don't know how these will be received in India
where a lot of sensitive issues are involved,"
said Stewart.
But there is now an effective method for infertile
patients who desperately want to have their own baby,
added Stewart.
Stewart who is now in his mid- thirties has the distinction
of being one of the two authorities deputed by the British
government to inspect and certify the infertility clinics
in England.
He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in zoology
and then obtained his doctoral degree from Cambridge
University.
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