IVF mums can watch embryo grow
COUPLES trying to have a child through IVF can now watch their embryo grow using their smartphone.
A mobile app being offered to British patients means they can watch their fertilised eggs in the incubator – all from the comfort of their sofa.
And a study has shown that couples find it reassuring to see the embryo before it is placed in the mother’s womb.
Gynaecologist Dr Federica Moffa of Institut Marques, which offers the app to British patients, said: ‘The new app offers patients direct insight into what’s happening in the lab, from the comfort of their own home.’ Couples are able to watch the embryo over five days from when it is just one cell –the fertilised egg.
They can see it become four cells on day two, eight to ten on day three, and about 200 cells by day five. Then it is taken from the lab and implanted into the womb.
A study of 400 couples, which will be presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Geneva, found 91 per cent said the app made them calmer.
But Professor Geeta Nargund, of Create Fertility, said: ‘There are positives and negatives, and if the development and growth of an embryo does not go as expected, this could cause more stress and upset for the couple who may end up unable to use the embryo they have been monitoring to try to have a baby.’