Role of an Embryologist in IVF Treatment Success

If you’ve ever heard the famous quote ‘An embryologist is your baby’s first caretaker’, during the fertility journey, well, you heard right! Embryologists play an important role in IVF treatment success. The importance of embryologists is underestimated when we look into the IVF process. Even most of the people are unaware that they are even involved in this process.

Embryologists work closely with other members of the IVF team and provide a high level of care and support to patients throughout their treatment. Embryologists have a deep understanding of the embryo's development and help IVF patients to have successful pregnancies.

The IVF process has some steps, first is ovulation stimulation, then egg retrieval, sperm collection, and after fertilization, embryo transfer in the uterus for implantation. The embryologist has a significant part to play in almost all these steps. Let’s closely explore what is the role of an Embryologist in the IVF process.

Maintenance of Lab Environment for Healthy Embryo Development

The embryologist monitors and maintains the laboratory conditions such as temperature, humidity, and air quality. These factors are critical to understand as they directly influence the success of embryo development.

Embryologists maintain a preferable environment and prevent the lab from any contaminants that could affect the embryo development process. An Embryologist is responsible beyond the fertilization process. He has to takecare of the preparation of embryo culture and change the culture if it is required during the IVF Process.

Process of Embryo Transfer

As the embryo formation takes place, they are ready for transfer after screening. The embryologist transfers the embryo with the help of a catheter. The entire process has to be monitored by the embryologist to ensure that the healthy embryos reach their destination. Not only this, but embryologist also conduct regular assessments of embryo development and determine their quality. This also involves a specialized technique that is performed by the embryologist.

Procedure of Embryo Freezing and Cryopreservation

If during an IVF process, extra embryos are stored after embryo freezing for future use. With the help of this technique, women don't have to undergo another ovarian stimulation and retrieval process. This process is also performed by an embryologist. He also looks after the embryos that are cryopreserved for the next IVF cycle.

Genetic testing of Embryos

An Embryologist is also involved in a genetic testing process like PGS (preimplantation genetic screening). Infertile couples make sure that their baby does not face any genetic diseases, so they choose the best fertility clinic in Lucknow. To check for chromosomal abnormalities in embryos, embryologists also perform PGS. Most abnormally chromosomally constituted embryos fail to implant or result in miscarriages and to reduce the chances of miscarriage embryologists perform this process. The transfer of a healthy embryo is significantly increased by genetic testing. The success rate of pregnancy increases with the help of genetic testing performed precisely by embryologists.

Monitoring and Analyzing Embryo Development

When egg and sperm fertilize embryo formation takes place. The embryologist places the fertilized eggs in an incubator with temperature and pH controls that replicate the uterus' environment. This environment helps in the development of the embryo. Embryologist changes the embryo culture and monitor the growth of the embryo regularly till implantation.

Embryologist Task in Egg Retrieval and Sperm Collection Procedure

The egg retrieval process is performed under anesthesia. With the help of a ultrasound guided needle, eggs are extracted from the follicular fluid by an IVF specialist and placed in the IVF dish. The embryologist separates eggs from this fluid and gets them ready for the next step of the IVF process. For men, a semen sample is collected and after that, it is sent to the embryologist for sperm washing. During sperm washing, the seminal fluid is removed to distinguish the most mobile and healthy sperm. Later on, after fertilization of the egg and sperm, the embryologist carefully determines embryo growth in the incubator.

Laser-Assisted Hatching Process

The laser-assisted hatching process is performed by embryologists to improve the efficiency of the IVF process. During this process, the embryo gets surrounded by Zona pellucida which means a shell surrounds the unfertilized eggs and allows only one sperm to enter the egg for fertilization. For implantation, zona pellucida needs to break naturally. But in some cases, the outer layer of the embryo hardens and does not break naturally leading to difficulty in implantation. Here embryologist roles come in, with the help of laser-assisted hatching, a small crack is created on the outer shell of zona pellucida to help the embryo in the hatching process.

Not only this, but embryologists are also in regular communication with infertile patients who want to conceive, whether it is through the egg retrieval process or embryo development monitoring.

Conclusion

Embryologists are highly trained medical professionals who have many roles in the IVF process without being limited to one role. Embryologists are the link in the chain whose hands create your baby. As IVF holds many steps so, infertile couples must understand that it may take some time and for successful IVF treatment in Lucknow, infertile couples can consult with their fertility specialist to improve the success rate of their pregnancy.