The use of electronic health tools from the very beginning of life: Time-lapse embryo monitoring

Introduction. In addition to the already widespread use of electronic health services in monitoring the health status of patients, one should also refer to the possibility of using electronic health tools from the very beginning of life by monitoring growth and development of the embryo. In this way, the concept of electronic health would expand to cover the whole human life, from its very beginning to the end. Monitoring the embryo development. The efforts to improve in vitro fertilization success rate have been accompanied by the introduction of various procedures, including the evaluation of the embryo quality. A detailed monitoring of the kinetics of embryo development is achieved by laboratory techniques that provide continuous insight into the embryo development through applying time-lapse monitoring system. Embryo quality evaluation programs based on time-lapse monitoring. Special bioinformatic programs have been developed for automatic analysis of images obtained by time-lapse monitoring which allow a quantitative evaluation of the key moments in the development of the embryo and its morphology. Implementation and limitations of time-lapse embryo monitoring. The majority of authorities in the field of in vitro fertilization consider the use of time-lapse monitoring as a great advancement in the in vitro fertilization technology, obviously leading to a higher success rate. Conclusion. The systems for time-lapse monitoring of embryos represent powerful tools which help clinicians involved in in vitro fertilization and embryologists to select the best embryos, with the aim of improving the in vitro fertilization success rate. Despite all the advantages, these systems also have some shortcomings and limitations.