Are all IVF labs the same? We don’t believe so.
Do all IVF labs have the same success rates? No! The success of any IVF program depends on the quality of its laboratory, the equipment and its scientists.
Why do we believe that embryos do better in the Fertility Solutions IVF lab? In part, Our incubators.
In vitro Fertilization labs are very complex and it is critical that our lab has the ability to maintain and produce the best environments for our growing embryos. The incubator is the place where your embryos will spend 99.9% of their time while in our lab. Incubators have changed little in the past 20 years and most IVF labs use very similar styled incubators with slight modifications. Incubators used at most other centers are the size of a medium size refrigerator. The average interior volume is 6.5 cubic feet. The embryos are placed in small dishes which are placed on one of multiple large shelves located in these units. These large incubators maintain a very stable environment if the door is kept closed. However, in larger IVF labs during the day, the doors may be opened frequently.
From the start, Fertility Solutions made a commitment to invest in the best incubators on the market. Fertility Solutions uses state of the art micro-incubators called MincTM. We are the only center in New England to our knowledge that uses these incubators exclusively. Each incubator is the size of a large waffle iron.
It is the interior environment that surrounds your embryos that is so critical and where the difference lies. Conventional refrigerator sized incubators have an average area of 6.5 cubic feet, the MincTM consists of several small chambers that surround your embryos that is 0.075 cubic feet each. This becomes important when opened. When doors are opened in large incubators the temperature may drop up to 31% and take up to 180 minutes to recovery. In our incubators, the temperature will change by 1.3% and take 1 to 3 minutes to recovery. This all means that each MincTM incubator keeps the micro-environment that surrounds your embryos at a very stable condition.
Studies have shown better fertilization rates, decreased fragmentation and improved pregnancy rates with these smaller MincTM incubators.*
While the environment that envelops your embryos is just one component to overall success, there is no doubt that in our experience, embryos on average perform better in these micro-incubators as compared to larger systems. Our results speak for themselves.
Journal of Clinical Embryology. M. Lee; Volume 13, Issue 3; Pages 21 to 32.