Babies Bear Out New Fertility Technique

Babies were recently born to two women who apparently are the first in Orange County to conceive using new fertility treatments that involve the injection of sperm directly into an egg, hospital officials reported Thursday.

Nicole Joy Tigner was born to Terry and Diana Tigner of Orange on Feb. 12 at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. The baby was the first birth at the hospital resulting from a variation of the technique called micro-manipulation, spokeswoman Maureen Mazzatenta said.

“We’re very enthusiastic because the procedure opens up a whole new level of fertility treatment for couples,” said Dr. Lawrence Werlin, medical director of Hoag fertility services.

On Monday, a woman who had conceived using a newer micro-manipulation procedure at the UCI/Saddleback Center for Reproductive Health in Laguna Hills gave birth in her home country of Mexico, said Dr. Jane Frederick.

Both procedures, which have been in use for two to five years, involve holding the microscopic egg with a very fine pipette, a small pipe or tube, while a second pipette with the thickness of a human hair is used to inject or “drop” sperm through a small slit in the egg’s outer membrane.

The procedures try to duplicate the fertilization process that occurs naturally when sperm penetrates an egg, Mazzatenta said. Fertilized eggs are then transferred to the woman’s Fallopian tubes and allowed to continue.