It?s been his life?s work and Dr. Matan Yemini is passionate about the possibilities in helping people to conceive and give birth. One of the directors of the Diamond Institute, he arrived on the Island on Thursday to consult with a bag log of patients.

While he does not travel much outside of the US to treat patients he said many people from overseas travel to his facility.

?We get many from Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Asia and right now we have a woman who has come back to us from Turkey. She came before and was successful,? he said. ?She came to us after many years of trying and has a son who is now seven.?

Recognising that not all patients have the finances to travel to New Jersey for the treatments, Dr. Yemini said he looks forward to forging more relationships like the one the Diamond Institute has with Bermuda. And he said the Institute has provided satellite services for many years in which doctors at the Diamond Institute provided technical expertise to health care workers in the local areas of their patients.

?We don?t do this as much as we used to because infertility treatments have become much more widely available now,? he said. ?But we still do work with patients in their local community. Many times it is not feasible for patients to have access to a centre as much as they need.

?In many cases the treatment involves once a week or even daily monitoring. We consult with the patient and the health care provider by phone and guide them on prep work and testing.?

Asked what the most frequent cause of infertility has been in his practice, Dr. Yemini said: ?Most of the time it?s a sperm problem.?

He said about 35 percent of cases are due to hormone problems and ovarian dysfunction, 33 percent are anatomical in nature i.e. blocked fallopian tubes or vas defrens, five percent he said are immunological in nature and another five percent are unexplainable.

?Most couples have a bit of everything and not strictly one problem,? Dr. Yemini said.

He explained that the most common treatments he uses are those classed as assisted reproductive technology.

In these treatments large numbers of sperm are brought as close as possible to large numbers of eggs to increase the chances of fertilisation.

Dr. Yemini said a recent study conducted at the Institute showed that 53 percent of patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology, conceived within three menstrual cycles.

And in cases where the egg is fertilised outside the body, he said he can run tests for a slew of genetic diseases like sickle cell anaemia, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome giving parents the option on which embryo is best to implant.

Although he sees a full slate of patients every week, Dr. Yemini still finds time for research.

?I have to,? he said.

?I don?t do it enough, but I spend about five to ten percent of my time on research.?

Currently he is looking into better methods of freezing eggs.

?We have many young women who come to us as they are diagnosed with ailments like breast cancer, and want to have their eggs frozen before they start chemotherapy,? he said.

?They want to have the option later on to be able to carry their own children.?

But Dr. Yemini said that the technology used to freeze eggs at the moment is not optimal.