FAQ1: Does FertiCult^TM Flushing medium contain phenol red?

The medium is available with and without phenol red. The following variants are available:

• FertiCult^TM Flushing medium
• FertiCult^TM Flushing medium with phenol red
• FertiCult^TM Flushing medium with phenol red and gentamicin

FAQ2: Do I have to add my own antibiotics to the FertiCult^TM Flushing medium ?

No, we have product variants which contain 10 mg/l gentamicin.

FAQ3: Can I use FertiCult^TM Flushing medium to wash sperm and do sperm swim-ups ?

Yes, FertiCult^TM Flushing medium is intended for in vitro procedures with human gametes, including washing of sperm and sperm swim-up procedures. See instruction for use leaflet for a suggested procedure for washing and swim-up.

FAQ4: Can I use FertiCult^TM Flushing medium as aspiration medium for an oocyte retrieval ?

No, we recommend to use FertiCult^TM Aspiration medium (ready-to-use medium, which doesn’t require any additives). FertiCult^TM Flushing medium contains human serum albumin which may cause an inconvenient foaming during the aspiration procedure.

FAQ5: Can I use FertiCult^TM Flushing medium for ICSI ?

Yes, we recommend to prewarm the medium in an incubator (without CO₂) or on a heating plate to ensure that the temperature of the medium is 37°C at use.

FAQ6: Should we pre-incubate FertiCult^TM Flushing medium prior to use ?

FertiCult^TM Flushing medium contains HEPES, the medium should not be placed in a CO₂ incubator prior to use. Prewarming in an incubator or on a heating plate is required to ensure that the temperature of the medium is 37°C at use. Importantly, when placed in a CO₂ incubator, make sure that the recipient with the medium is firmly closed! (When insufficiently closed, CO₂ may lower the pH of the medium to 6.90-6.95).

FAQ7: Should the whole bottle be prewarmed? How long can I use FertiCult^TM Flushing medium after opening the bottle?

We have performed in-use testing on FertiCult^TM Flushing medium which supports the use of the media up to 7 days, taking into consideration that the bottle was opened under sterile conditions and the product was stored at 2-8°C after opening. In addition and as indicated in the IFU it is advised to:

• keep the product in its original container until the day of use and
• depending on the number of procedures that will be performed on one day, remove the required volume of medium under aseptic conditions in an appropriate sterile recipient. Only pre-warm sterile recipient. This is in order to avoid multiple opening/warming cycles of the medium. Discard excess (unused) media.

FAQ8: Is there a difference between FertiCult^TM Flushing medium and Sperm Washing/Insemination medium?

No, both products are identical. When assembled in a Sil-Select Plus^TM kit, the medium is named “Sil-Select Plus^TM Sperm Washing/Insemination medium”.

FAQ9: Which volume of semen should be used for swim-up?

See instruction for use leaflet for a suggested procedure for swim-up. The volume of semen depends on the type of tube. We recommend the use of 15ml Falcon tubes, and layer 1.5ml FertiCult^TM Flushing medium over 1ml of washed semen. This way the surface between both layers can be maximized, leading to better yields. If the semen sample has a higher volume, use more tubes or wash the semen before swim-up to resuspend in a lower volume. Also, if a lot of debris is present, more tubes are recommended.