A group of IVF clinics will be among the first in Europe to use artificial intelligence (AI) to non-invasively assess embryos.
IVF Life Group, a group of IVF clinics across Spain, the UK, and Germany, will use the AI product Life Whisper. Developed by global healthcare company Presagen, the innovation uses images of embryos to assess their quality and assist with embryo selection, ultimately improving IVF outcomes for patients.
Currently, PGT-A genetic testing is one of the most used techniques, requiring the careful removal of three to five cells from an embryo to analyse its genetic integrity. As the procedure is still not available in some countries and is quite invasive, Life Whisperer and its AI technology can also assist with this assessment.
Assessing genetic integrity through camera imagery
Life Whisperer Genetics, which this month received CE Mark in Europe, requires only standard camera images of embryos to assess their genetic integrity. In a US study simulating 91,500 individual patient embryo cohorts, Life Whisperer Genetics ranked the genetically normal (euploid) embryo top in 82% of the patient cohorts. Furthermore, in 96% of the cohorts, Life Whisperer Genetics ranked at least one genetically normal embryo in the top two embryos.
Presagen’s first product, Life Whisperer Viability, assesses the same images of embryos to determine their likelihood of leading to a pregnancy, and is already in use in IVF clinics globally.
Dr Jon Aizpurua, Founder & President of IVF Life Group, said: “For the next two months, IVF Life will offer all patients, at no additional cost, the use of both Life Whisperer Genetics and Life Whisperer Viability. Although patients may still elect to use PGT-A testing, Life Whisperer offers an important pre-screen to help us select the best embryos for further genetic testing, transfer, or freezing.”
Dr Michelle Perugini, Presagen CEO, said: “We are excited to be working with IVF Life to enable patients across Europe to access the latest AI technology to help improve their chances of a healthy pregnancy, whilst reducing treatment costs.”
