In the current practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF), clinicians often transfer multiple embryos to the patient at once in an effort to maximize chances of pregnancy. This practice results in a high rate of multiple births which increase the risks of complications for mothers and children.
The investigators in this study have developed a novel, noninvasive marker of embryo viability which is based on measuring embryo mechanical properties at the oocyte or the 1-cell stage. The investigators would like to test whether human oocyte or embryo mechanical properties are predictive of subsequent development, clinical pregnancy, and compare their predictive power to that of a morphological assessment (the current gold standard). Using this approach, clinicians could more confidently move toward single embryo transfer, provided more individualized counseling for patients undergoing oocyte cryopreservation, as well as improve pregnancy rates after IVF.
This is a pilot observational study. Although investigators will measure the mechanical properties of all participant oocytes and embryos, no prediction of embryo viability will be made, and there will be no intervention in choosing which embryos to transfer to participants. The data from this study will eventually be used to find a range of oocyte and embryo mechanical parameters which are predictive of high developmental potential, and will serve as the basis for an interventional study in the future.
