First artificial insemination with frozen embryo in Vietnam
HANOI - Doctors have carried out Vietnam's first artificial
insemination using a frozen embryo, a procedure that is likely to
slash the cost of infertility treatment, state media said on
Thursday.
Doctors in Ho Chi Minh City's Tu Du Obstetrics hospital
implanted a frozen embryo into the womb of a 30-year-old
woman, Tien Phong reported.
After examining the prospective mother two weeks later, doctors
said they were able to detect signs of a developing foetus. The
woman is due to give birth in March 2003, the daily said.
The embryo had been kept in a liquid nitrogen solution at minus
116 degrees Celsius since March this year.
Previously, artificial insemination in Vietnam involved using fresh
embryos, which proved impractical, given the limited timeframe
available, and expensive at $2,000 per operation.
However, with the frozen embryos, which can be kept for up to 10
years, the cost of receiving artificial insemination will fall to only
$130, the paper said.
The hospital currently has 20 embryos in cold storage. Embryo
storage equipment cost around $15,000 and is likely to made
available to more hospitals around the country by the end of the
year, it added.
Medical care has improved along with Vietnam's economic
fortunes in recent years, however facilities in rural areas are of
ten very basic and lacking in equipment to undertake
sophisticated operations.
Agence France Presse - July 11, 2002.
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