Laparoscopy
Laparoscopic or “minimally invasive” surgery is a specialized technique for performing surgery. In the past, this technique was commonly used for gynecologic surgery and for gall bladder surgery. Over the last 10 years, the use of this technique has expanded into intestinal surgery. In traditional “open” surgery the surgeon uses a single incision to enter into the abdomen. Laparoscopic surgery uses several 0.5-1cm incisions. Each incision is called a “port.” At each port, a tubular instrument known as a trochar is inserted. Specialized instruments and a special camera known as a laparoscope are passed through the trochars during the procedure. At the beginning of the procedure, the abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide gas to provide a working and viewing space for the surgeon. The laparoscope transmits images from the abdominal cavity to high-resolution video monitors in the operating room. During the operation, the surgeon watches detailed images of the abdomen on the monitor. This system allows the surgeon to perform the same operations as traditional surgery but with smaller incisions.
Hysteroscopy
If you get hysteroscopy, your doctor inserts a thin, telescope-like instrument through the vagina if your fibroid is mainly within the cavity of the uterus. This is a minor surgical procedure with minimal recovery time. But it’s only for women who have fibroids within the lining of the uterine cavity.
Doppler Ultrasound
A Doppler ultrasound is a noninvasive test that can be used to estimate the blood flow through your blood vessels by bouncing high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) off circulating red blood cells. A regular ultrasound uses sound waves to produce images, but can’t show blood flow.
A Doppler ultrasound may help diagnose many conditions, including:
- Blood clots
- Poorly functioning valves in your leg veins, which can cause blood or other fluids to pool in your legs (venous insufficiency)
- Heart valve defects and congenital heart disease
- A blocked artery (arterial occlusion)
- Decreased blood circulation into your legs (peripheral artery disease)
- Bulging arteries (aneurysms)
- Narrowing of an artery, such as in your neck (carotid artery stenosis)
Fertility Hormone Evaluation
Performance of the male and female reproductive systems reflects the orderly operation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Aberrant operation of this axis can result in many different reproductive disorders, including various forms of infertility. Proper evaluation of these disorders involves a multifaceted diagnostic approach, which includes a critical contribution from the clinical laboratory. This adjunctive testing, involving the measurements of peptide and sex-steroid hormone concentrations, allows the clinician to biochemically “dissect” the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and ascertain the presence as well as the location of the specific defect. In practice, the specific tests utilized during the evaluation of a patient depend upon the underlying disorder. Typically, in evaluating the reproductive disorders discussed in this review, a primary battery of tests is obtained that reflects the initial clinical presentation and physical examination. The results of these initial studies then dictate any secondary testing required to complete the evaluation.
Double, Triple and Quadruple Maker Test
There are various tests done during pregnancy to check maternal and foetal wellbeing. Marker tests are usually done to check for congenital and genetic defects in the foetus. Often they are done to check if the foetus is suffering from Down’s syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality which affects both the physiological and psychological development of the child. This is the reason why screening tests are taken more seriously during the first and second trimester.
Micromanipulator
Micromanipulation is a technique used in assisted reproductive technology (ART) that involves manipulation of the eggs, sperm, and embryos at a cellular level using microscopic instruments. It can be used to inject a sperm into a mature egg to aid fertilization, to assist with the hatching of a blastocyst, and for the diagnosis of genetic abnormalities in the embryo prior to implantation. Micromanipulation can help couples with both male and female factor infertility to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Embryoscopy
Embryoscopy is a recent technology providing embryologists a 7/24 follow up of the developing embryos. In other words, following the development of embryos until transfer by a camera system that is located in the incubators. At normal conditions, we take the embryos out of the incubator for once in a day to check fertilization and embryo cleavage. The reason for this is to make embryos affect from the temperature and ph changes minimally. Since we do not need to take embryos out of the incubator during time-lapse imaging, we can follow embryo development until transfer without being affected by the changes in the ambient environment. At the same time, the system gives us detailed information regarding embryo development. For instance; it helps us to compare embryos for quality by recording embryo cleavage at specific time points and recording several cleavage patterns and by enabling us to choose the best embryo for transfer.
