- Email: [email protected]
Comparison of fresh vs. vitrified oocyte developmental rates using time lapse
a significant effect of the oxygen concentration on the overall embryo quality on day 1, day 2 and day 3. Culturing embryos under low oxygen concentration resulted only in a significant higher number of embryos with a cytoplasmic halo on day 1 (58% versus 51%; p¼0.044). CONCLUSION: Embryo quality on day 3 could not be improved by the use of a mini-incubator when compared to a standard incubator (RCT1) or by exposure to a low oxygen concentration when compared to a standard oxygen concentration (RCT2). From an economical point of view, these results are important for fertility centers performing transfers on day 2 or day 3. No additional investments in mini-incubators nor in more expensive gas mixtures are needed to improve embryo quality. P-350 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 COMPARISON OF FRESH VS. VITRIFIED OOCYTE DEVELOPMENTAL RATES USING TIME LAPSE. W. A. Caswell, D. Davies, K. Delegge, J. Hill, M. J. Tucker. Fertility Centers of New England, Reading, MA. OBJECTIVE: Compare morphometric timing of a fresh oocyte cohort used in IVF compared to the same patients Vitrified Oocytes cohort, cultured simultaneously in the EmbryoscopeÒ Fertilitech. DESIGN: Patient who had previously vitrified oocytes due to no sperm available at time of IVF. Patient subsequently presented for a fresh IVF/ ICSI cycle using Fresh partners sperm. This unique situation provided the opportunity to culture both cohorts simultaneously to ascertain a comparison of developmental milestones. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Oocyte vit cycle yielded 19 oocytes of which 17 were MII. The fresh cycle yielded 8 oocytes all of which all were MII. The same ejaculate was used for ICSI for both. The vit group with 14 fertilized normally. The fresh group had 5 fertilized normally. All embryos were placed into the Embryoscope after fertilization assessment. Embryo Transfer occurred on Day 3 of embryo development exclusively from the Vitrified/Warmed cohort.. Two embryos were transferred (8 cell and 9 cell both (A quality). This resulted in a singleton live birth. RESULTS: We compared the key Mean developmental indicators looking at Time of 2PN fade and fist cleavage between the two groups
TABLE 1.
2PN fade (syngamy) 1st cleavage 2 cell 4 cell 6 cell 8 cell Morula Blast
Vitrified Group
Fresh Group
24.3 hrs 27.6 hrs 32.3 hrs 40.1 hrs 53.2 hrs 62.1 hrs 91.5 hrs 112.0 hrs
21.3 hrs 27.4 hrs 27.4 hrs 39.0 hrs 51.6 hrs 52.4 hrs 91.7 hrs 108.4 hrs
We next compared cleavage times at key times: 2 cell, 4 cell, 6 cell, 8 cell, Morula and finally Blastulation time. CONCLUSION: Many of the time points evaluated demonstrated very similar developmental rates. The ones that seem to have a difference are the time to 2PN fade (prior to first Cleavage) as well as time to 8 cell. These differences may be due to post vitrification recovery. Based on these results one should expect a vitrified and warmed oocyte to develop at a very similar rate to a fresh cohort. P-351 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 ABSTRACT WITHDRAWN
DESIGN: In the laboratory, a stable culture environment is imperative for embryo development. Here we assess the degree of temperature variation and effect of door openings within front-loading incubators. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Temperature was mapped within two Hera Cell incubators (Thermo Fisher Scientific; Waltham, MA) that each contained three shelves and an inner divided door. Twenty-seven different locations (9 per shelf) were mapped overnight and temperature readings were taken once every 10 seconds using a micro-thermocouple placed under oil and attached to a wireless data logger (Marathon Products, San Leandro, CA). During 5-second door openings, temperature readings were logged every 2 seconds. RESULTS: Average temperatures across the bottom, middle, and top shelves were 36.90, 37.11, and 37.31 oC respectively. Temperatures of multiple probes placed around a given shelf varied by as much as 0.5oC per shelf. The average temperature of the hottest location recorded in the incubator was the back right corner on the top shelf, which measured 37.5 oC. The coolest location was the front left corner of the bottom shelf, which measured 36.65 oC. One 5-second door opening dropped the temperature as much as 4 oC and the incubator needed at least 30 min to stabilize at a temperature that was within 0.1 of the regular temperature of 36.9 oC. After a second door opening 1 hour later, the incubator needed one hour to reach the equilibration temperature. CONCLUSION: In the IVF laboratory, an ideal culture environment is essential for favorable clinical outcome. It has been reported the minute temperature variations can have adverse effects on embryo development. Overnight temperature mapping indicated a variation in temperature across three shelves within an incubator; furthermore, multiple door openings of an incubator prevented stabilization and the return of oil temperatures to that found after overnight equilibration. P-353 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 TREATMENT OUTCOME AND EARLY PREGNANCY LOSS- A COMPARISON OF CONVENTIONAL AND EMBRYOSCOPEÒ SYSTEMS. A. Barrie,a K. Schnauffer,a C. Kingsland,a S. Troup.a aThe Hewitt Fertility Centre, Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom; bUnisense Fertilitech, Aarhus, Central Denmark, Denmark. OBJECTIVE: Early pregnancy loss (EPL), defined as the loss of pregnancy before twelve weeks of gestation, remains high for those receiving assisted conception treatments. The advent of time-lapse imaging incubator systems (the EmbryoScopeÒ) provides previously unavailable morphokinetic information about embryo development as well as improving the stability of culture conditions. This study seeks to investigate the outcome of treatment in conventional vs EmbryoScopeÒ systems. DESIGN: Retrospective data analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Embryos from patients receiving IVF or ICSI treatment 1-3-2012 - 28-2-13 were included retrospectievly. Data were analysed according to whether embryos were cultured conventionally (n¼1326, HeraCellÔ or SanyoÔ incubator, 20% O2) or in an EmbryoScopeÒ (n¼301, 5% O2). The incidence of biochemical pregnancy (BPR), clinical pregnancy (CPR) and EPL were determined for each group and differences compared using Fisher’s exact test. RESULTS: Significant increases were observed in both BPR and CPR for embryos cultured in the EmbryoScopeÒ compared to conventional incubators for patients of all ages (BPR: 117/212 (55%) vs 431/1166 (37%), P<0.0001; CPR: 91/212 (43%) vs 294/1166 (25%), P<0.0001. Furthermore, a significant reduction in the incidence of EPL was observed with the EmbryoScopeÒ system (26/117 (22%) vs 137/431 (32%), P¼0.05). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that by comparison to conventional culture, embryos cultured in the EmbryoScopeÒ system have a higher implantation potential and are associated with lower rates of EPL. The precise mechanism for such improvements remains unclear but may be a combination of more stable culture conditions, reduced in vitro insults such as reactive oxygen species, and access to morphokinetic parameters with the latter preselecting genetically normal embryos. This method of culture supersedes existing methods and should be considered as the standard incubation method for all embryos in a culture system.
P-352 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 PRECISE TEMPERATURE MAPPING WITHIN IVF INCUBATORS. D. J. Monahan, C. B. Smikle, M. J. Angle. Laurel Fertility Care, San Francisco, CA. OBJECTIVE: Accurately map temperature variation within front-loading IVF incubators.
S248
ASRM Abstracts
P-354 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 SINGLETON PREGNANCY OUTCOMES AFTER BLASTOCYST VERSUS CLEAVAGE STAGE EMBRYO TRANSFER: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS. S. Dar,a,b T. Lazer,a,b P. Shah,c C. Librach.a,b aCReATe Fertility Center, Toronto, ON, Canada;
Vol. 100, No. 3, Supplement, September 2013
TABLE 1.
2PN fade (syngamy) 1st cleavage 2 cell 4 cell 6 cell 8 cell Morula Blast
Vitrified Group
Fresh Group
24.3 hrs 27.6 hrs 32.3 hrs 40.1 hrs 53.2 hrs 62.1 hrs 91.5 hrs 112.0 hrs
21.3 hrs 27.4 hrs 27.4 hrs 39.0 hrs 51.6 hrs 52.4 hrs 91.7 hrs 108.4 hrs
We next compared cleavage times at key times: 2 cell, 4 cell, 6 cell, 8 cell, Morula and finally Blastulation time. CONCLUSION: Many of the time points evaluated demonstrated very similar developmental rates. The ones that seem to have a difference are the time to 2PN fade (prior to first Cleavage) as well as time to 8 cell. These differences may be due to post vitrification recovery. Based on these results one should expect a vitrified and warmed oocyte to develop at a very similar rate to a fresh cohort. P-351 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 ABSTRACT WITHDRAWN
DESIGN: In the laboratory, a stable culture environment is imperative for embryo development. Here we assess the degree of temperature variation and effect of door openings within front-loading incubators. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Temperature was mapped within two Hera Cell incubators (Thermo Fisher Scientific; Waltham, MA) that each contained three shelves and an inner divided door. Twenty-seven different locations (9 per shelf) were mapped overnight and temperature readings were taken once every 10 seconds using a micro-thermocouple placed under oil and attached to a wireless data logger (Marathon Products, San Leandro, CA). During 5-second door openings, temperature readings were logged every 2 seconds. RESULTS: Average temperatures across the bottom, middle, and top shelves were 36.90, 37.11, and 37.31 oC respectively. Temperatures of multiple probes placed around a given shelf varied by as much as 0.5oC per shelf. The average temperature of the hottest location recorded in the incubator was the back right corner on the top shelf, which measured 37.5 oC. The coolest location was the front left corner of the bottom shelf, which measured 36.65 oC. One 5-second door opening dropped the temperature as much as 4 oC and the incubator needed at least 30 min to stabilize at a temperature that was within 0.1 of the regular temperature of 36.9 oC. After a second door opening 1 hour later, the incubator needed one hour to reach the equilibration temperature. CONCLUSION: In the IVF laboratory, an ideal culture environment is essential for favorable clinical outcome. It has been reported the minute temperature variations can have adverse effects on embryo development. Overnight temperature mapping indicated a variation in temperature across three shelves within an incubator; furthermore, multiple door openings of an incubator prevented stabilization and the return of oil temperatures to that found after overnight equilibration. P-353 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 TREATMENT OUTCOME AND EARLY PREGNANCY LOSS- A COMPARISON OF CONVENTIONAL AND EMBRYOSCOPEÒ SYSTEMS. A. Barrie,a K. Schnauffer,a C. Kingsland,a S. Troup.a aThe Hewitt Fertility Centre, Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom; bUnisense Fertilitech, Aarhus, Central Denmark, Denmark. OBJECTIVE: Early pregnancy loss (EPL), defined as the loss of pregnancy before twelve weeks of gestation, remains high for those receiving assisted conception treatments. The advent of time-lapse imaging incubator systems (the EmbryoScopeÒ) provides previously unavailable morphokinetic information about embryo development as well as improving the stability of culture conditions. This study seeks to investigate the outcome of treatment in conventional vs EmbryoScopeÒ systems. DESIGN: Retrospective data analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Embryos from patients receiving IVF or ICSI treatment 1-3-2012 - 28-2-13 were included retrospectievly. Data were analysed according to whether embryos were cultured conventionally (n¼1326, HeraCellÔ or SanyoÔ incubator, 20% O2) or in an EmbryoScopeÒ (n¼301, 5% O2). The incidence of biochemical pregnancy (BPR), clinical pregnancy (CPR) and EPL were determined for each group and differences compared using Fisher’s exact test. RESULTS: Significant increases were observed in both BPR and CPR for embryos cultured in the EmbryoScopeÒ compared to conventional incubators for patients of all ages (BPR: 117/212 (55%) vs 431/1166 (37%), P<0.0001; CPR: 91/212 (43%) vs 294/1166 (25%), P<0.0001. Furthermore, a significant reduction in the incidence of EPL was observed with the EmbryoScopeÒ system (26/117 (22%) vs 137/431 (32%), P¼0.05). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that by comparison to conventional culture, embryos cultured in the EmbryoScopeÒ system have a higher implantation potential and are associated with lower rates of EPL. The precise mechanism for such improvements remains unclear but may be a combination of more stable culture conditions, reduced in vitro insults such as reactive oxygen species, and access to morphokinetic parameters with the latter preselecting genetically normal embryos. This method of culture supersedes existing methods and should be considered as the standard incubation method for all embryos in a culture system.
P-352 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 PRECISE TEMPERATURE MAPPING WITHIN IVF INCUBATORS. D. J. Monahan, C. B. Smikle, M. J. Angle. Laurel Fertility Care, San Francisco, CA. OBJECTIVE: Accurately map temperature variation within front-loading IVF incubators.
S248
ASRM Abstracts
P-354 Tuesday, October 15, 2013 SINGLETON PREGNANCY OUTCOMES AFTER BLASTOCYST VERSUS CLEAVAGE STAGE EMBRYO TRANSFER: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS. S. Dar,a,b T. Lazer,a,b P. Shah,c C. Librach.a,b aCReATe Fertility Center, Toronto, ON, Canada;
Vol. 100, No. 3, Supplement, September 2013