Deliberating on trends in embryology

The sixth international congress of Academy of Clinical Embryologists (ACE) at Hyderabad International Convention Centre was graced by many health organisations on Monday.

The central theme of the conference was “The Eight Secrets of Successful Infertility Practice” and embryology congress revolved around “Art beyond ICSI-Emerging Trends in Optimising Success”.

Dr Alan Thornhill who is a Senior Scientific Advisor and Igenomix’s UK Country Head represented the company at the ACE. At ACE, he delivered lectures on ‘Different Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) Platforms’ and ‘Why Euploid Embryos Don’t Implant’.

Dr Thornhill explained how PGD and PGS are effective techniques in controlling the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) failures and having a healthy child. “Even after PGD, about 50% embryos are chromosomally abnormal and will fail to translate into a successful pregnancy.

To reduce the risk of miscarriage, chromosomal abnormalities in babies and enable higher pregnancy rates per transfer, Igenomix has now launched a combined product PGD + PGS,” he said. The purpose of PGD is to identify genetic defects in embryos to determine if the particular embryo should be transferred during an IVF cycle or not.

However, given the relatively high probability of chromosomal abnormalities present even in PGD embryos unaffected by a specific genetic disorder, patients may weigh up the costs against the benefits of reducing the chance of IVF failure, miscarriage or birth of a child with chromosomal abnormalities. Employing PGS with MitoScore after PGD may further aid in the selection of viable embryos with increased chances of embryo implantation and successful pregnancy.

“Employing PGD + PGS together can ensure ongoing pregnancy rates of 42.9%,” added Dr Thornhill. When it comes to IVF, Quality Management System (QMS) becomes important to ensure the success.

“To be successful, today's IVF must combine and navigate many different factors including patient heterogeneity, multiple clinical and laboratory processes and integrate new technologies where appropriate. However, before you launch into the details of specific processes, for example deciding how often you will measure incubator temperature in your lab; it is worth considering the QMS in its entirety.

Benchmarking to illustrate the value a comprehensive, well-structured and properly supported QMS can bring to an IVF clinic to improve success and maintain them over time,” said Dr Thornhill.