'What is the Clinical Value of Day 7 Blastocysts?' New Study Makes Case for Culturing Embryos Up to Seven Days Post-Insemination for Selected Patients

Fairtility's AI-Powered Embryo Quality Assessment Assistant CHLOE EQ™ Used to Determine Quality for Embryo Culture Up to Day 7

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairtility, the transparent AI innovator powering in vitro fertilization (IVF) for improved outcomes, announced the results of a new study published in Human Reproduction, "How slow is too slow? A comprehensive portrait of Day 7 blastocysts and their clinical value standardized through artificial intelligence," finding that ending embryo culture at 144 hours (six days) post-insemination (h.p.i.) would involve 7.3 percent and 4.4 percent relative reductions in the number of patients obtaining euploid blastocysts and live birth(s) (LBs), respectively.

The study was led by Dr. Danilo Cimadomo and Dr. Laura Rienzi, Science and Research Manager and Scientific Director of the international fertility group GeneraLife.

"Bringing AI into our practice enabled us to automate and standardize data collection and analysis," said Cimadomo. "Fairtility's AI-powered tool can help IVF professionals make the most of time-lapse data through standardized and reproducible evaluations. Here it made objective the clinical value of Day 7 embryos, opening up possibilities for couples struggling to get pregnant and to clinics contemplating a 6-to-7-day culture."

This observational study reviewed 1,966 blastocysts cultured in a time-lapse incubator between 2013 and 2020 at private Italian IVF center, GeneraLife, demonstrating the benefit of expanding blastocyst assessment to Day 7 (168 h.p.i.). The study also highlighted the advantage of Fairtility's transparent AI-powered embryo quality assessment assistant, CHLOE EQ™, the use of which enabled clinicians to limit embryo assessment bias and expand embryo viability prediction.

"For prospective parents undergoing IVF treatments, embryologists use a morphological grading system and interventional genetic testing to evaluate embryos on Day 5 to 6 post-insemination. Traditionally, the quicker a blastocyst developed indicated greater viability, while slower-growing blastocysts would be assumed non-viable, limiting the number of embryos suitable for transfer," explains Rienzi. "However, more recent studies have shown that limiting assessment of embryos to Day 5, or at latest Day 6, had in fact decreased potential by negating the significance that viable embryos up to Day 7 may have for poor prognosis patients."

The study revealed that the low euploidy rate among Day 7 blastocysts had more to do with morphology and oocyte age than the rate of development. In other words, a slower-growing blastocyst was not definitively indicative of poor viability. In fact, in each instance of full culture up to 168 h.p.i. (Day 7) as opposed to 144 h.p.i. (Day 6), researchers found increased numbers related to blastocysts, euploid blastocysts, pregnancy, and LBs.

Significantly, 14.6 percent of blastocytes reached the fully expanded stage beyond the 144 h.p.i. threshold in the study. While both embryologists and CHLOE EQ™ agreed that such embryos were of lower quality, researchers concluded that poor prognosis couples, couples less compliant toward other attempts in case of a failure and couples wishing for more than one child, could still benefit from these embryos. In such cases, CHLOE EQ™ can contribute to embryo viability prediction up to Day 7.

"There are only a few studies that analyze embryo culture to Day 7 providing clinical evidence of their potential quality, making this study very relevant and important," said Dr. Assaf Ben Meir, Chief Medical Officer of Fairtility™, Director of the IVF Unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center and study co-author. "We are increasing the opportunity for older and low responder patients to achieve pregnancy and live birth. In such cases, with only a few viable embryos, every embryo is critical. Fairtility's technology will assist the lab in selecting the cases that are worth the extended culture to Day 7 – a true advancement in personalized IVF care."

"Working with the GeneraLife team has been inspiring, taking clinical practice dilemmas and research ideas and providing our powerful AI tool, CHLOE EQ™, to assist in resolving those questions. With this we can provide insight for other clinics," said Eran Eshed, CEO and Co-Founder of Fairtility. "This is a testament to the great collaboration between clinical practice and technology companies and the resulting optimization of workflows and potential augmentation of IVF patient care."

About Fairtility
Fairtility is powering in vitro fertilization (IVF) through transparent AI to improve outcomes. Equipping clinicians and their patients with unparalleled visibility into IVF treatment, CHLOE™ (Cultivating Human Life through Optimal Embryos) is the first and only transparent AI-based decision support tool that provides clinicians with complete visibility into the clinical and laboratory parameters that make up data output to help improve IVF outcomes. Beginning with CHLOE EQ™, a proprietary embryo grading platform, Fairtility is on a path to expand CHLOE™'s application to span the full IVF journey - from infertility cause assessment through transfer optimization. To learn more about Fairtility™ or schedule a demo, visit our website and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Nechama Feuerstein
[email protected]
551-444-0784

About GeneraLife
GeneraLife is a leading european group of 37 IVF clinics in 5 countries (Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden, Portugal). In addition to offering 25,000 treatments a year, thanks to the work of 650 employees, 85% of whom are women, GeneraLife promotes Research and Development in this sector, using a rigorous scientific method. Several members of the group hold important roles in national and international scientific societies such as the Italian Society of Embryology, Research and Reproduction (SIERR), the Italian Society of Fertility and Sterility (SIFES) and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).  They also play editorial roles in various journals in the field of reproductive medicine (Human Reproduction Update, Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, Human Reproduction, Fertility and Sterility, Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Frontiers in Endocrinology).

Contact:
Barbara Di Chiara
GeneraLife Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.generalifeitalia.it

SOURCE Fairtility