Blastocyst Culture

No fertility treatment promises a 100% success rate, and it has been seen that sometimes the fertility treatment with the highest success rates fails. There are several reasons behind a fertility treatment not working out for you. But technologies are working to minimize fertility failures, and blastocyst culture is one of them.

In many cases, the embryos get damaged after being transferred into the uterus. Through this culture, embryos are put into an artificial lab environment until they reach the blastocyst before being transferred into the uterus.

Blastocyst Culture is a process in which the embryos are grown in the lab for 2-3 days in a lab until they reach the blastocyst stage before transferring into the uterus. Not all of them reach the blastocyst stage. This is done to eliminate the chances of damaged embryos after being transferred to the uterus.

Though other fertility treatments eliminate a majority of the infertility issues, certain things are not in control, and blastocyst culture is invented to eliminate those. Studies have shown that some couples get negative pregnancy reports even after IVF with ICSI and IMSI. After the embryos are transferred into the uterus, most are damaged.

Doctors felt that there was no need to spend money and time to get negative results. Therefore, blastocyst culture became a suitable option. In this process, embryos (fertilized eggs) are grown in the laboratory until they become a blastocyst. It is a stage of the embryo 5/6 days after fertilization. It is seen that fewer embryos can survive until they develop into blastocysts. Therefore, the remaining healthy embryos are transferred into the uterus. It is done to get the maximum success rate after a previously failed IVF process.

• Ovarian stimulation : - As the first step, medications are given to stimulate the eggs to produce mature eggs that can be used for fertilization.
• Egg Retrieval : - Once the eggs are produced, they are taken out of the female body by inserting a thin & hollow tube with a needle on top to pull out the eggs.
• Sperm selection : - In this process, the healthier sperms are selected for fertilization.
• Insemination : - As the next step, the sperm is injected into the egg and stored in a container until fertilization occurs.
• Culture : - After the fertilization occurs, the embryos are observed until they reach the blastocyst stage.
• Transfer : - As the last step, the chosen healthy embryo is transferred into the uterus.

• Reduction of multiple births :- As there is only one embryo chosen for being transferred into the womb, it reduces the risk of multiple pregnancies with various issues such as premature birth, early labor, and miscarriage.
• Increased success rate :- In this process, the blastocyst is being transferred into the uterus, which increases the chances of pregnancy.

As the embryos are grown and selected before the transfer, there is no significant side effect of this procedure. But it can sometimes happen that none of the embryos reach the blastocyst stage. It depends on the culture environment. If maintained well, there is no need to worry.