IVF tech guarding embryos
WOMEN going through IVF on the Gold Coast now have access to advanced monitoring technology that helps keep embryos safe during their important five-day incubation period.
The new EmbryoScope+ incubator has been installed at Queensland Fertility Group’s (QFG) Gold Coast clinic at Pindara Place in Benowa and seven other laboratories across the state.
In an IVF cycle, embryos are grown in a protected environment in an incubator in a laboratory for five days before being transferred into a woman’s uterus.
Dr Andrew Cary, fertility specialist at the Gold Coast clinic, said the incubator had a built-in high-resolution camera and computer software that photographed the growing embryos during this important period. “Over the five days the embryologist is looking at the embryos growing and developing and checking for visual changes to know that the embryo is passing vital development milestones,” he said. “With the new EmbryoScope+ incubator, the in-built camera monitors the embryo 24/7; it also produces a time-lapse video of the embryo growing.
“Embryologists can watch the embryos growing without having to remove them from the incubator environment which is retained at optimal pH levels and temperature conditions.
“Even when the scientists aren’t in the lab, they can watch the embryo development and look for the important visual changes via the time-lapse vision.”
The embryologist can play the time-lapse vision to study the embryo’s whole life history,
checking for the precise cell division sequences and vital developmental milestones, which can aid in selecting the best embryo for a successful transfer.
Gold Coast couple Krystle Brant and husband Greg were trying to conceive their second child naturally but after a number of miscarriages, they tried IVF so their embryos could be tested for chromosomal variations – one of the most common reasons why miscarriages occur.
During the pair’s first cycle of IVF in early 2020, eight eggs were retrieved and five embryos created and sent
away for testing. She had her first embryo transfer in February but it failed to implant.
The couple then tried again naturally as the government temporarily paused IVF and elective surgery due to the emerging Covid pandemic.
But Mrs Brant had an ectopic pregnancy in June 2020, at the same time her family learnt about her sister-in-law’s terminal cancer diagnosis. With the family coping with this news, the couple decided to wait until August to do their next transfer, it was successful.
Sadly, just four weeks before Dash was born, Krystle’s sister-in-law passed away.
Mrs Brant said her sisterin-law was “amazing” and even offered to be a surrogate for the family before she was diagnosed with cancer.
The mother-of-two said during her IVF process she remembered being shown a photo of her embryos during one of her appointments. She still has the picture.
When she saw the embryos on the computer screen, she remembers pointing at one of them and saying, “that’s my baby”. In fact, it was that exact embryo that was successfully transferred and is now her 10-week-old baby boy.