Tuesday 4 July 2017

Now you can watch your IVF embryo grow in real time with an APP on your phone


Couples undergoing fertility treatment can now watch their embryos growing using their mobile phone. A leading fertility group is attaching cameras to the incubators where the embryos are being matured so they can be viewed at anytime. Barecelona based Institut Marquès, which has a clinic in London, believes that allowing embryos to be viewed via a new mobile app is psychologically beneficial for parents-to-be. Dr. Federica Moffa, a gynaecologist working for the clinic said: 'Watching the fertilisation progress back in the clinic is a tremendously calming.'
Experts say that assisted reproduction treatments, such as IVF, can cause enormous levels of stress particularly when they are waiting for their embryos to develop pre-implantation. A spokesman for the clinic said: 'We are pioneering new mobile application which can improve the well-being of future parents during the assisted reproduction process, and help them to establish an emotional relationship with their future child.'
Embryomobile is a revolutionary new app which allows patients to observe the evolution of their embryos from the comfort of their own home. Parents watch the process take place in an Embryoscope, which is a high-technology incubator with a video camera that films their development. More than 3,000 patients to date have already used the app, on average connecting up to four times daily. Institut Marquès will be presenting the results from a study of patients trialing Embryomobile at the annual European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Geneva, on Monday. The study, which interviewed 400 Institut Marquès patients after they used Embryomobile, found that 91 per cent of the patients who used the app felt it helped them to feel calmer during the IVF process.
In total 51 per cent patients involved in the study, when offered the opportunity, chose to select the embryo they felt would provide the best chance of pregnancy. Of this group, 74 per cent correctly identified the most viable embryo to transfer or vitrify. Dr Moffa said: 'The Embryomobile app has gone down very well with our patients, as it allows them to get much more involved in the IVF process and helps them to establish an emotional relationship with their future child.
'The new app offers patients direct insight into what's happening in the lab, from the comfort of their own home.'

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