Each year thousands of would-be parents take the sometimes long and costly route of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to conceive. There is a misconception that IVF works the first time, every time and every patient goes home with a baby.
But the sad truth is that for many people IVF can take at least 3 cycles before they get pregnant or worse it never works.
The chances of a successful pregnancy depend on a number of factors. But more often than not the woman’s age is a significant factor. Younger women are more likely to have a successful pregnancy and women over 42 are generally denied treatment because the chances of success are extremely low.
That doesn’t mean that all women over 42 can’t get pregnant naturally or with IVF but it’s a sad fact that women over 40 are generally not considered for treatment in some countries.
Between 2014 and 2016 the percentage of IVF treatments that resulted in a live birth was in the UK was:
- 29% for women under 35
- 23% for women aged 35 to 37
- 15% for women aged 38 to 39
- 9% for women aged 40 to 42
- 3% for women aged 43 to 44
- 2% for women aged over 44
On top of the everyday pressure life brings, the IVF process demands a level of commitment, resilience and patience. With every stage, clinics and doctors ask patients to wait, wait again, and then wait again.
For many years technology has always been at the heart of every fertility clinic and every procedure. Every clinician wants a successful outcome for their patient.
The use of Artificial intelligence in the lab
We have seen the growth of visible Artificial intelligence (AI) in our everyday lives from our mobile phones, to the cars we drive and even in our homes, with even the not so visible AI tracking our shopping habits and suggesting choices for us.
But could AI help with selecting embryos and increasing the chances of a successful pregnancy?
Life Whisperer is the world leader in the application of AI to help make more babies and recently received their UK and EU CE Mark of approval.
Their AI was created and trained using thousands of images of embryos covering different clinical outcomes from leading IVF clinics globally.
Imagine your embryologist could grade your embryos with information that exceeds the ability of the human eye to select the very best embryos to implant that in turn reduces the number of cycles needed to achieve a successful pregnancy.
Just take a pause and think about that for a moment. If your clinic could improve the outcome of your next cycle. In reality, what would that mean to you, your partner and all those supporting you on your journey?
Choosing which embryos to implant is decided by the fertility clinics embryologist who use a number of different ways to grade each embryo. Which embryo will have the best chance of achieving a healthy pregnancy is totally subjective and different embryologists will have different views.
Now imagine if with the help of AI the embryologist was able to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy by 25%?
Flinders Fertility realised the benefit and became an early adopter and the first fertility clinic in Australia to offer Life Whisperer.
The technology is working hand in hand with their busy embryologists to achieve better outcomes for their patients, providing an objective assessment of embryo viability that has been shown to improve the accuracy of embryo selection.
Dr Ashleigh Storr, Flinders Fertility said “The technology has complemented our current workflow and embryo selection techniques, not only with the aim of improving patient outcomes but also by allowing patients to be more informed about their embryo development.”
This is why clinics around the world use Life Whisperer to help skilled embryologists identify the most viable embryos to focus on for their patients.
With greater IVF certainty, more people can attempt IVF to build their family.
Life Whisperer is available in Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe and more information can be found on their website lifewhisperer.com
source https://fertilityroad.com/artificial-intelligence-helping-fertility-clinics-make-more-babies/
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