Received September 13, 2001
Accepted October 09, 2001

This study was about the use of assisted hatching (AH) for helps i n selected patients with demonstrable abnormalities in the zona pellucida of their eggs. We used a simple mechanical process involving ICSI injection pipette. The objective was determinate whether AH was of value in selected patients. A group of 75 patients IVF/ICSI, that multi pie IVF failure, aged 38 or over or patients with embryos with thick or descoloured zona pellucida (ZP). The results showed, that live birth rates were significantly better in the study group than in the age matched control group. The live pregnancy rates assisted hatching seems to offer an advantage, was statisticall y significant. On frozen embryo no advantage accured to the hatching study group. ln conclusion the real benefict of AH may simply be the facil tation 01' early extrusion 01' the embryo though the ZP and its subsequent interaction with the endometrium maximising the opportunity for implantation.