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EmbryoScope

The EmbryoScope is the best time-lapse system in the world for observation of embryo development, while maintaining stable embryo culture conditions.

Our EmbryoScope success rates

Each and every embryo at GRFC is cultured in an EmbryoScope. This has been critical in GRFC achieving the highest success rates in the country, whether it be IVF, ICSI or PGD.

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  • The EmbryoScope - ensuring optimal development

    The EmbryoScope is a type of incubator that allows the embryologist to monitor embryo cell divisions while the embryos are still in the incubator. The incubator has a built-in camera that can take pictures of the embryos at timed intervals. These pictures are then combined to create a time-lapse video showing the embryo’s development at every vital stage. By watching when and how the embryos divide our embryology team can assess if development is taking place normally.

     

  • Every embryo benefits from not being disturbed

    In the past embryologists have had to remove embryos from the incubator to perform three of four brief evaluations of the developing embryo, at fixed time-points over 3-5 days, in order to assess embryo quality. The evaluation time allowed for these snap-shot evaluations is limited by the need to minimise the time embryos spend outside of the safe environment of the incubator and avoid stress to the embryo. The EmbryoScope allows the Embryology team to monitor your embryos through the full course of their development. The specially designed EmbryoScope incubator with a built in camera and microscope takes an image of your embryos every 10 minutes. As a result, time-lapse videos of individual embryos are generated over 3-5 day. During the entire 3-5 days your embryos remain in the EmbryoScope and stay undisturbed in their stable culture environment.

  • Using the EmbryoScope to select the best embryo and improve success rates

    Advanced software allows the embryology team to use the embryo development information to select the best embryos as we can assess how the embryo has developed over the course of the 3-5 days. We are no longer restricted to the individual snap-shots. A prospective randomized control trial comparing culture and selection using the EmbryoScope time-lapse system to traditional culture and evaluation documented a relative increase in ongoing pregnancy rate of 23% while early pregnancy loss was reduced by 36%. That is why we are committed to ensuring every patient benefits from the EmbryoScope.

  1. What is the EmbryoScope time-lapse system?

    The EmbryoScope is an IVF incubator with a built-in camera developed to improve IVF treatments. The instrument is the result of more than 9 years of research and the benefits of it have being led to it being adopted across the globe.

  2. How does it work?

    Images of individual embryos are automatically recorded at preset time intervals. These images are compiled using specialised software to create a time-lapse sequence of embryo development. Detailed information about timing of cell divisions, intervals between cell cycles and other important events including multinucleation, evenness of blastomeres and dynamic pronuclei patterns are annotated for analysis. This information is used by the embryologists to select the embryo that can be most likely to result in a pregnancy for transfer in an IVF treatment. Images are acquired without removing embryos from the incubator, and therefore manual handling of embryos outside the stable incubation conditions is minimised, leaving the embryos undisturbed at optimal growth conditions. Images and detailed information about incubation conditions are stored in patient data files for future reference.

  3. How many clinics use the EmbryoScope time-lapse system?

    The system has been widely adopted worldwide with more than 370 clinics using this technology.

  4. How many Embryoscopes do you have?

    We are committed to ensuring that every patient benefits from the Embryoscope so we have six.

  5. How many patients can be treated in the EmbryoScope time-lapse incubator?

    The EmbryoScope incubator can hold six EmbryoSlide culture dishes with embryos from up to six different patients. Each EmbryoSlide culture dish can accommodate up to 12 embryos; consequently the EmbryoScope incubator can acquire time-lapse images of up to 72 embryos. Each EmbryoScope time-lapse system has a capacity of 300 – 400 IVF treatment cycles per year per EmbryoScope instrument, depending on the duration of culture. As we have six EmbryoScopes every patient will benefit from this technology.

  6. Will using the EmbryoScope cost me more?

    No, the EmbryoScope is now our standard way of incubating embryos and so we do not charge extra for it.

Fees

All of our treatment packages are fully inclusive and that includes blastocyst culture in one of our six EmbryoScopes. Our full price list for all of our services can be found here. If you have any questions about the fees, please contact us as soon as possible on 0141 956 0509 to speak to a member of staff.