Together. All the way.

What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is widely used and affects our daily lives even if we do not notice. From smart phone tools and personalised shopping experiences to assisted airline operations and medical diagnosis. When the appropriate method is chosen and trained on data that sufficiently represents the intended use, artificial intelligence makes our life easier and more comfortable.

Blastocyst grading is known to be highly subjective and without the use of time-lapse can result in an incorrect evaluation of collapsed or partially collapsed blastocysts. Artificial intelligence has the potential to make processes in IVF more precise, consistent and efficient in the future. This paper¹ describes how deep learning (a subset of artificial intelligence) was used to design an algorithm to enable fully automatic grading of ICM and TE quality from time-lapse images. A similar approach has been used to estimate morphokinetic timings and PN count.

The use of time-lapse technology in IVF has in many parts of the world become a standard of care. The benefits are many, including the ability to communicate with patients about their treatments. A recent study aimed to find out how the patients value to view time-lapse sequences of their embryos at the time of embryo transfer.

Another ASRM is over with lots of interesting new science presented. As always the programme covered a large variety of topics. In this blog I will highlight some of the studies and sessions which I found of particular interest.

New assessment methods call for new assessment measures. Having a common nomenclature can form the basis for clearer communication of embryo assessment and evaluation. The nomenclature described in this blog post is what we have found to facilitate ease of agreement and understanding between time-lapse users.