AI helps woman get pregnant after 20 years of failed fertility treatments in historic IVF breakthrough
A New York couple is finally having a baby after almost two decades of failing to conceive a long, emotionally trying, physically draining, and medically frustrating ride. Their story, foiled by 15 failed IVF treatments and consultations from experts on every continent, was redeemed by an AI-based fertility tool designed at Columbia University. It's a breathtaking medical milestone that could change the face of treatment for male infertility globally.
The long-awaited pregnancy of the couple is not only a medical success; it's a victory of endurance, ingenuity, and the ability of technology to overcome very intimate kinds of difficulties. For those with apparently insurmountable barriers, this case provides something invaluable: hope.
With the help of AI, the era of reproductive health is about to experience a breakthrough period where even the most challenging fertility situations can be addressed not with desperation, but with data, precision, and empathy.
AI brings new hope as woman gets pregnant after 20 years of failed IVF
by Taboola
by Taboola
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For the majority of couples, fertility treatments are emotionally and financially exhausting—if not more so when they are unsuccessful time and time again. This couple was no exception. They struggled for nearly 20 years to have a biological child. Even with access to cutting-edge fertility treatment, surgeries, and international consultations, they were consistently given the same message: conception was all but impossible.
The fundamental problem was with the husband, whom the doctor diagnosed with
azoospermia
, a rare but serious condition where no sperm is present in the ejaculate.
Introducing STAR: The AI tool revolutionising male infertility treatment
Just when hope appeared to be lost, the couple approached Dr. Zev Williams, a fertility specialist at
Columbia University
, whose team had been developing a cutting-edge technology: Sperm Track and Recovery (STAR).
The AI system was developed to identify good sperm in semen samples where previously none were seen.
How STAR works:
A microfluidic chip filters and isolates constituents in the semen.
A high-speed imaging system takes millions of microscopic frames.
A machine learning algorithm scrutinizes these images to spot rare, cryptic sperm—even a few viable cells that might be used in IVF.
"Finding a needle in a thousand haystacks" is how Dr. Williams described it. "But STAR can accomplish that in a couple of hours. And it's so gentle the sperm it retrieves can still be used to fertilize an egg."
AI breakthrough helps couple conceive after 20 years of infertility
In this New York couple's situation, standard lab technicians spent two entire days searching through the semen sample, but couldn't locate a single sperm cell. STAR located 44 viable sperm, though, within an hour—a figure large enough to continue with in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Miraculously, the pair did not require further cycles of hormonal treatment or surgery. With the sperm isolated by STAR, the IVF cycle went smoothly in March 2025. It worked—and the pair is now pregnant with their first child. Dr. Williams noted that the case is by no means a fluke. STAR has the potential to overturn fertility treatment, particularly for men with non-obstructive azoospermia.
Non-invasive: No surgery is required to look for or retrieve sperm.
Accurate: AI can locate what trained experts may not spot.
Hope-restoring: For couples informed their chances were "zero," this provides a new avenue.
Affects 1 in 6 people worldwide, states the World Health Organization, and male infertility accounts for roughly 50% of these. For many, diagnosis of azoospermia seemed the end of the road until now.
Broader future of AI in reproductive health
Whereas STAR today solves sperm detection, scientists think AI can revolutionize many other aspects of fertility treatment as well:
Detecting high-quality eggs and embryos
Being able to predict
IVF success
rates
Tailoring treatment protocols
Finding subtle abnormalities in reproductive tissue
"There are things happening that we are not aware of now," said Dr. Williams. "But with AI, we can finally observe them."
What is Azoospermia: The "hidden" cause of male infertility
Azoospermia occurs in about 1 in 100 men and is responsible for 10–15% of male infertility. It exists in two types:
Obstructive azoospermia: The testes generate sperm, but it can't be ejaculated because there are blockages in the reproductive system.
Non-obstructive azoospermia: The body is not able to produce sperm at all or only in very low amounts.
Some common reasons are:
Genetic disorders
Chemotherapy or radiation therapy
Hormonal imbalance
Drug abuse or exposure to toxins
Structural defects such as varicoceles (dilated veins in the scrotum)
Conventional therapies for azoospermia usually include risky operations to harvest sperm directly from the testes or using donor sperm—both of which pose emotional and ethical challenges for most couples.
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