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Time lapse (embryoscope)

The latest technology increases the chances of success in fertility treatment.

At the beginning of a pregnancy, the embryo is implanted in the lining of the uterus. It has always been one of the great challenges of fertility treatment to assess the ability of an embryo to implant. For many years, research in this area made little progress. We are therefore particularly proud to present the "Embryoscope", a high-tech incubator with integrated camera, which takes us a big step forward in this respect.

 

At the beginning of a pregnancy, the embryo implants in the lining of the uterus. One of the great challenges of fertility treatment has always been to estimate the implantation capacity of an embryo. For many years, research made little progress in this area. We are therefore particularly proud to now present the "Embryoscope", a high-tech incubator with an integrated camera that takes us a great step forward in this respect.

What is time lapse (embryoscope)

Normally, the embryologist has to remove the bowls with the embryos from the incubator three or four times during the treatment in order to check the course of development under the microscope. This is done at precisely defined times over three to five days and is always associated with a disruption of the embryos. In order to keep the disturbance as short as possible, the biologist limits himself to what is absolutely necessary, i.e. his assessment is based on a brief "snapshot". The embryoscope gives the laboratory staff much better possibilities: The system consists of a state-of-the-art incubator, a built-in, high-resolution camera, a special tray system that records the embryos, and intelligent software for assessing the embryos.

Using the built-in camera, the Embryoscope continuously documents the development of the embryos by taking an image of each embryo every 5-20 minutes. From this, the device creates a time-lapse film of the development of each individual embryo over a period of two to five days. The embryos always remain in the optimal, stable culture environment of the incubator, any disturbance by removal is eliminated. Sophisticated software allows the biologist to estimate the chances of implantation of each embryo better than ever before on the basis of the gapless time-lapse images.

Complete information from early embryonic development is very important for assessing the developmental potential of an embryo. In many IVF centres, the possibility of obtaining this information is still missing. With the latest technology, we thus improve your chances of pregnancy. The Embryoscope's intelligent software, developed on the basis of thousands of treatment cycles, helps us to assess your embryos. This enables us to ensure that the embryos we transfer to your uterus have the best possible developmental capacity.

The information gained through the embryoscope can have a positive effect on the success of treatment. Scientific studies have shown that embryo assessment using this new technique improves the pregnancy rate. This effect was even visible in older patients. In addition - and no less importantly - a reduced frequency of early abortions has been demonstrated. Another positive aspect is the reduced risk of multiple pregnancies: the improved embryo assessment technique allows the number of embryos to be reduced while maintaining the same chance of success.

The time-lapse technique should be used especially for:

  • Prolonged culture/blast cyst culture
  • abnormal embryo development in pre-cycles
  • repeated implantation failure
  • repeated miscarriages (abortions)