A PIONEERING method of IVF treatment which is expected to increase pregnancy rates is now available in the North-East.

The system uses specialised incubators incorporating time lapse imaging and powerful data analysing software.

The Fertility Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead now offers time lapse monitoring to patients undergoing IVF treatment.

The new technology incorporates the use of new "Embryoscope" incubators equipped with time lapse imaging. This provides digital images of embryos every 15 minutes, allowing constant assessment of embryo development without removing the embryos from the stable environment of the incubator.

Traditional methods of assessing embryo development during IVF involve removing the embryos from the incubator to examine them under the microscope. This exposes the embryo to changes in environmental conditions such as temperature and light which can be stressful to the embryo and impair its development.

The time lapse images obtained can also provide unprecedented detail of early embryonic development to pinpoint precise timings when key developmental milestones occur.

Using the powerful data analysing software in the Embryoscope, this extra information should enable embryologists to identify healthier embryos that have the best chance of implantation and reduce the risk of miscarriage.

Embryologists can now provide a more stable environment to allow greater numbers of embryos to develop to five days old when the embryo reaches what is called the blastocyst stage.

Blastocyst embryos have a higher chance of implanting to produce a pregnancy. Previously embryos were transferred when only two or three days old. Transfer of blastocyst embryos can improve pregnancy rates following IVF by up to 50 per cent.

Previously IVF units have had to transfer more than one embryo to increase pregnancy rates, this leads to an increase in the rate of more risky multiple pregnancies.

By using this latest technology staff at the Gateshead unit will be able to select a single embryo with the highest implantation potential, maximising the pregnancy rate, reducing the rates of multiple pregnancy and providing a better pregnancy outcome for mother and baby.

The new incubators will become fully operational by April.

Ian Aird, clinical lead for fertility services at QE Gateshead, said: “The Embryoscope gives us the opportunity to do continuous imaging and closely monitor an embryo’s development. This means that we can select healthier embryos, increasing our pregnancy rates even further and help more couples who are having fertility problems to have the family they yearn for.”

Couples from across the North-East can opt to be treated at the Gateshead hospital by exercising patient choice.