Optimisation of the timing of fertilisation assessment for oocytes cultured in standard incubation: lessons learnt from time-lapse imaging of 78 348 embryos

AbstractSTUDY QUESTIONUsing time-lapse data, can the current consensus for the timing of fertilisation assessment of oocytes, cultured in standard incubation, be optimised?SUMMARY ANSWERThe optimum time to perform fertilisation assessment for oocytes cultured in standard incubation is 16.5  ± 0.5 h post-insemination (hpi), and the current consensus requires modification in order to minimise the chance of fertilisation being missed.WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADYTime-lapse incubation allows the embryologist to retrospectively review collated images of oocytes and embryos to capture important embryological observations that may otherwise be missed in standard incubation. According to expert consensus, the optimum time to perform the assessment of fertilisation is 17  ± 1 hpi.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATIONA retrospective, multicentre analysis utilised data obtained from 54 746 ICSI-derived embryos and 23 602 IVF-derived embryos cultured in time-lapse incubation between January 2011 and November 2019.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSUsing time-lapse imaging (TLI), the precise time of pronuclei appearance and disappearance was recorded, where applicable, and the number of oocytes with two pronuclei observable during 10 30-min intervals from 15 hpi to 20 hpi was determined.MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCEBetween 15 and 17.5 hpi, the average number of oocytes exhibiting normal fertilisation, elicited as two pronuclei, was 98.19% with the highest proportion of oocytes havin...
Source: Human Reproduction - Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: research