What do your embryos really look like?

Generally, half of day 3 embryos will develop to the blastocyst stage. It’s normal development.

It is a hatching blastocyst. It may not be the top quality, but if it’s a day 5 embryo, then it’s a quite good one. But the success rate does not only depend on the blastocyst quality. It also depends on a patient’s endometrium and their age.

Maybe it’s not a very good quality embryo, but still a good one. Grade 6 means it’s hatched from the zona pellucida.

Grade 6 is a completely hatched blastocyst. When we can assess the inner cell mass and the trophectoderm, AA is the top quality.

Generally, I don’t like grade 6 expansion because it’s a very sensitive embryo. It doesn’t have zona pellucida which makes it safer. Sometimes it doesn’t depend on the laboratory because the blastocyst hatch is so fast. But generally, we try to avoid such a situation.

No, the assessment is the same. Now many clinics are using vitrification for the frozen embryo. Vitrification is a very safe way of embryo preservation as it doesn’t change the quality of the embryo. But you should remember that if we thaw an embryo e.g. 5 or 6 hours before the transfer, the blastocyst could grow and expand so the assessment could change. For example, when we vitrificate a blastocyst at stage 2AA and we leave it in the incubator for 6 hours, it could be at 3AA stage when we transfer it. And that’s normal.

No, I wouldn’t because every embryo works differently with endometrium. Of course, when we have two similar embryos, it is possible to transfer both. But not in this situation. Transferring one embryo of low quality with the other of higher quality is not a good solution.

It’s a very difficult question. Of course, it’s completely ready for implantation but it’s not a very safe situation. You should remember that when the embryo is totally hatched, it’s very sensitive. And then the transfer should also be provided really carefully.

Firstly, in our clinic, we use Embryo Glue very often. It is a special hyaluronan-rich media that helps in embryo implantation. Secondly, we perform laser-assisted hatching.

It’s a difficult question. We’re not convinced about AI in the embryology lab. It’s still a human factor that’s decisive in the lab.

In our clinic, we freeze embryos at the blastocyst stage and of any quality. We once had a couple with only one blastocyst assessed as 2CC. So it was really poor quality but they decided to transfer it. We conducted assisted hatching and this blastocyst was implanted successfully despite its poor quality. So we freeze embryos of all quality. The rate of thawing embryos is almost 100% because the embryo is always very safe during vitrification.

Mosaicism is a different situation than aneuploidy. Aneuploidy is a situation when we have, for example, 3 sets of chromosomes. Mosaic aneuploidy is when we have only one or more chromosomes. It’s different from what we have seen earlier in the video. But the fact that some cells were not a part of compaction doesn’t mean that this embryo is a mosaic aneuploidy. It’s not equal.

Trisomy is a disease, for example, Down syndrome, monosomy generally is lethal. Sometimes we have a mosaic embryo. The genetic quality of this blastocyst depends on how many cells are segregated and what is the level of mosaicism in this embryo. If it is a low level of mosaicism, sometimes this embryo is ready to transfer. But if we have an embryo with a whole trisomy or monosomy, then this embryo isn’t transferred.

Of course, it also depends on the day it was frozen. If there are only 2 straws, firstly we use the one with 3BB and 3BA. It may not be the top quality but it’s still a good one. Whilst 3C is a poor quality embryo.

I think when PGT-A aid testing is performed by an experienced embryologist it’s quite safe. If you have a blastocyst which is built of approximately 100-120 cells and you take only a few for testing, it’s still safe to the embryo.

Generally, the slow freezing method is used in the blastocyst stage. It’s different in the earlier stages. But in the blastocyst, chances of surviving after throwing are about 90%. In the cleavage embryo it’s about 85-90%.

Not in a fresh transfer because then we transfer only on day 5. But in my career, I transferred frozen day 7 embryos only three times and two of these transfers were successful. It’s a completely abnormal situation for me but sometimes it’s okay. I read some paper where scientists compare the pregnancy rate of different embryo transfers. The first was the transfer of frozen embryos that achieved the blastocyst stage on day 5 or 6. The second group included embryos which achieved the blastocyst stage on day 7 or day 8. The pregnancy rate in the first group was approximately 38% and in the second group – only about 5 to 6 %. So it’s a huge difference. So usually we avoid such a situation and in fresh transfer, we transfer only on day 5.

I think that during the embryo biopsy we have the best results when we take 5 to 8 cells. Of course, we’re talking about the blastocyst and not about a day 3 embryo. 5 to 8 cells is enough to conduct good quality testing.

I don’t think so. The time-lapse is a useful device and a very important tool for embryologists but it has no influence on embryo quality.

Of course it helps. But if a laboratory doesn’t have time-lapse, it can organise its work differently. At times when we didn’t have time-lapse system, we conducted the evaluation on the basis of different time methods. So time-lapse is a very useful tool but it doesn’t change the embryo quality. If an IVF lab doesn’t have a time-lapse incubator, they organise they work in the best possible way to conduct the proper assessment. So, for example, there is always somebody in the lab to perform the assessment after 18 or 19 hours after microinjection.