Tuesday, January 1, 2013

New Hope for Infertile Couples


An Embryoscope is a new device that is helping doctors deal with especially challenging issues of infertility.  It allows doctors to monitor an embryo's growth, almost minute by minute. And in doing so, help them select the best candidates for successful invitro fertilization.  It is similar to a high tech incubator and time lapse camera that captures the beginning of life.

Dr. Nina Desai, of the Cleveland Clinic explains, "Imagine you're able to see every minute of the embryo's development even before it's transferred to the uterus, before it implants on the uterine wall you're able to see this embryo. It’s never been possible before."  
Traditionally, Doctor Desai takes an embryo out of the incubator once a day to look at it under a microscope. but a lot can happen that she'd miss.  The Embryoscope keeps the embryos in a safe and stable environment and tracks every second.  That gives doctors an even better chance to catch even the most subtle changes.  
Dr. Desai continues, “It's a wealth of information we're learning so much that we hadn't realized happens to an embryo as it grows so we are just blown away by this, it's an amazing, amazing technology.  When pointed out, the ones that were growing well were definitely different from ones that were sort of stuck."


Here is a link to the full article.

My book, Five Strands of Hope, is available here on Amazon.  It is a memoir about my journey through secondary infertility through a horrendous triplet pregnancy.