Recent Developments in IVF
Artificial intelligence and Embryo selection in IVF
Ok ladies, the time has come and you are ready to embark on the incredible IVF process! You are ready to be pregnant by, well…yesterday but you know it is a unique journey that takes a different range of time for every person before they officially conceive. As you may know, IVF can be successful, but can’t be guaranteed every time. The success can be impacted by multiple circumstances, one being the strength of the embryo that is being implanted.
For many years the decision on which embryo to implant resulting from an IVF cycle has been based on the opinion of the Scientist of the appearance of the embryo on the day of the planned embryo transfer: this has been based on the historical standards of embryo selection.
With the increased use of the embryoscope + taking photographs of the embryos every 7 minutes we now have a great volume of digital photographic files of these embryos during their development.
We are very excited to introduce to you how amazing A.I technology has been developed to assist in increasing your chances of successful fertility. Dr Aengus Tran of Harrison A.I. has developed an A.I. software package which identifies embryo features that will estimate the likelihood of progression to a successful implanting embryo with a foetal heart. The system is called IVY and is a radically new approach, free of human bias or historical views. Just what we have all been hoping for! (applause).
IVY teaches itself to analyse images and reflect back from a successful implantation to the earlier embryo scope images. To date, this technology has been evaluated in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT and has been shown to be more accurate than the subjective techniques of embryo selection.
More than 2000 embryos in Queensland, the ACT and New South Wales have been reviewed. Queensland Fertility Group is part of an international trial to further evaluate the success of this technology, which not only removes much of the “human error” factor in embryo selection, but allows the AI (Artificial Intelligence) to teach itself to further enhance embryo selection accuracy for future pregnancies. It is likely that using IVY will shorten the time to pregnancy by allowing us to select the best embryos based on the predictive embryo characteristics identified by IVY. This allows us to select the embryo most likely to implant, improving outcomes and hastening results for IVF patients. One of the appealing features of IVF AI is that it is non-invasive, that is, there is no biopsy of embryos or manipulation, just analysis of the images already taken through the embryoscope.
As part of the Queensland Fertility Group, I am proud to have my patient’s embryo images involved in an international trial. With Australian and European centres taking part, it is hoped that IVY will become a part of regular clinical management of fertility cases over the next year or two.
If you would like to find out more information about IVY and how A.I technology could assist you in conceiving, book a consultation with Dr Terry Sheahan today.