CRi Oosight(TM) Instrument Crucial In IVF Breakthrough Demonstrating A Correlation Between Non-Invasive Egg Metrics And Pregnancy

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 17 Jun 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Inc. (CRi) announced that Oosight(TM), a non-invasive optical imaging system manufactured by CRi and widely used by embryologists as an aid in the field of in vitro fertilization (IVF), has been used in a groundbreaking study that investigated ways to select eggs most likely to produce a pregnancy.

Dr. Suha Kilani, senior scientist at IVF Australia in Sydney, led a group which included researchers from the School of Women's & Children's Health at the University of New South Wales. The group determined that while absolute predictive criteria for the selection of the best embryo for single-embryo transfer remain elusive, CRi's Oosight instrument provides a useful, non-invasive means to accurately measure characteristics of the egg to help identify the most viable embryo even before fertilization occurs. The results are the first to show a direct link between egg spindle characteristics and pregnancy.

"Extrapolation of these results would suggest that when a normal spindle is found, the chances of a pregnancy, if a high quality cleavage stage embryo follows, is greater than 65%," commented Dr. Kilani.

"We congratulate Dr. Kilani and her collaborators on the quality of their work. It is a significant step forward in improving methods of non-invasive grading criteria. This study adds to our knowledge of contributing factors to fertility and also validates the importance of good quantitative data as produced with the Oosight system. Such data are imperative if we are to make single-embryo transfer a reality, thereby greatly reducing the risks associated with multiple births," said Cathy Boutin, Product Manager at CRi.

CRi's Oosight systems based upon the company's original LC-PolScope technology can be seen at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Amsterdam June 28 to July 2 in the Research Instrument's booth (number 95).

Oosight systems produce non-invasive, high-contrast images of the meiotic spindle and zona pellucida without the need for potentially harmful dyes or stains. In addition, these images contain quantitative data that indicate the relative order of structures within the spindle and zona. In this study, spindle density was significantly higher in those oocytes resulting in pregnancy.

The work by Dr. Kilani's group, "Are there non-invasive markers in human oocytes that can predict pregnancy outcome?" was published in March by Reproductive BioMedicine Online.

Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Inc (CRi) is a biomedical imaging company providing innovative optical imaging solutions for over 20 years. CRi's multidisciplinary team is dedicated to providing comprehensive solutions and support enabling our customers to produce breakthroughs in research and medical care. With a focus on addressing customer needs coupled to a commitment to advancing the field of personalized medicine, CRi helps scientists and clinicians extract new disease-specific information from biological samples in the physiological, morphological, and biochemical context of intact tissues and organisms. CRi's award-winning innovations are being recognized for their novel and groundbreaking capabilities in academic research to pharmaceutical drug development to clinical medicine, including a 2009 Top 10 Medical Innovations of the Year award from Cleveland Clinic and a 2009 Frost and Sullivan Product Line Strategy award.

Source: Cambridge Research and Instrumentation, Inc