Time-lapse Technology for Embryos

CRGH continues to be at the forefront of innovation in the field of IVF. As such, we give patients the option of culturing their embryos in our Embryoscopes. There is a growing body of evidence that these systems have a significant positive impact on success rates compared to traditional incubators.

What is an EmbryoScope™-Time-lapse imaging?

Embryos in the laboratory are cultured in incubators which are closed systems in order to maintain a stable environment (temperature, oxygen, CO2 etc…). To observe the embryo development, every 1-2 days, the embryos are removed from the incubator and transferred for a short amount of time in another protected area with a microscope and a camera to observe, capture and grade their quality (such as the number of cells, how quickly they divided etc…). As a result, we only observe a snapshot of the embryo development on 3-5 occasions.

On the other hand, the EmbryoScope™ is a Time-lapse incubator that has a built-in camera and microscope. It captures images of the developing embryos every 10-15 minutes and with the thousands of pictures captured over 3-6 days, it creates a Time-lapse video of embryo development.

In this video Suzanne Cawood, Head of Embryology, explains the time-lapse systems at CRGH for embryos.

The time-lapse system also generates a KIDScore for each embryo to aid in the decision-making of which embryo to select. This score is not only based on the morphology, but also the cleavage pattern and morphokinetics of the embryo which all correlate with improved implantation outcomes.

A randomised control trial performed by Rubio et al. in 2014 comparing culture and selection using the Embryoscope documented an increase in ongoing pregnancy rate of 23% and a reduction of early miscarriage by 36%. Our own data at CRGH also suggests that culture of embryos in the Embryoscope results in a higher percentage of genetically normal blastocysts.