EmbryoScope: improving IVF treatment through time-lapse video

A revolutionary new instrument is offering fertility specialists a different perspective when selecting embryos for transfer. The EmbryoScope® provides the medical team with a time-lapse video featuring thousands of snapshots of each embryo over the 5 to 6 days of in vitro culture. Based on what is seen in the video, embryologists and physicians are able to identify particular developmental patterns that may help in the selection of the best embryo(s) for transfer.

Shady Grove Fertility in Chesterbrook, PA, located outside of Philadelphia, is one of twelve such fertility centers in the country, and the only center in the Philadelphia metro area, to utilize the EmbryoScope. Currently, all patients having IVF or donor egg treatment at this location are benefiting from this new technology. All embryos are placed within a specialized incubation tray, and monitored in the EmbryoScope. The team is able to review time-lapsed video and select the most normally developing embryos prior to transferring into the patient.

Isaac E. Sasson, MD, PhD of Shady Grove Fertility in Chesterbrook knows the value of the information the EmbryoScope provides the clinical team. “I think the EmbryoScope will have a significant impact for future fertility treatment.  Physicians prefer to culture embryos to Day 5 to select the single best blastocyst for transfer. This reduces the number of embryos needed to transfer to result in a successful pregnancy, and consequently reduces the number of multiple pregnancies.”

Dr. Sasson continues to explain, “There is excellent emerging data in the field of morphokinetics – the speed at which the embryo divides and changes its morphological features. The EmbryoScope is a unique incubator that provides the appropriate environmental and nutritional conditions for an embryo development while taking pictures of the embryo every 5 minutes. The images are put together into a mini-movie of biology in action and to characterize the time frame in which embryo development occurs.  Furthermore, sensitive embryos are not exposed to the temperature changes that occur when embryos are removed from the incubator to be graded using a traditional morphological techniques.”

The Philadelphia regional embryology lab cultures embryos in the EmbryoScope and reviews their morphokinetic data prior to selecting the best embryo for transfer. Patients are emailed a copy of the movie of their embryo development.