Embryo preservation techniques for embryos cultured outside the mother’s uterus, for those who decide to undergo artificial treatments in order to have a child, are becoming more and more exhaustive and reliable. As Clinica Tambre, an expert in assisted reproduction techniques, recalls, nowadays embryos preserved in the laboratory are observed once a day to minimize their exposure to the environment and to keep them always in the incubator under controlled and constant conditions. However, warns the center, “this limits the information we have about the embryos”. It is logical to think that the more information we have about a process, the more accurate the subsequent decision can be. In this line, the clinic presents Primovision as a tool that provides a lot of information on the evolution of the embryos that its experts have in culture because it can help them “determine the destiny of each one of them”.
How is the study of the embryos performed?
The Primovisión is a camera that is placed inside an incubator and controlled by a computer. This device takes a series of photographs during embryo culture, with the time interval between snapshots (from 5 minutes to 1 hour) decided upon. “These photographs are of such low intensity that they are not harmful to the embryo,” the clinic clarifies. “Afterwards, all the captures are analyzed with software, so that we manage to observe the evolution of all the embryos individually.”
Advantages of embryo studies
With Primovisión, this new IVF (in vitro fertilization) incubator, “we have achieved very good results,” explains the clinic. The advantage offered by these new systems is the amount of information they provide on each of the embryos, avoiding having to manipulate the plate when removing it from the incubator. “All this information must be learned to use it to help us in our day-to-day work and to learn more about the different stages that an embryo goes through,” the Tambre experts conclude.