Texas Medical Center offers new IVF treatment technology

A new IVF treatment has been made available to prospective parents at the Texas Children's Pavillion for Women Family Fertility Center.

The embryo monitoring system, which is known as EmbryoScope, has been available in other areas for a number of years, but the clinic is the first in Houston to make use of the technology.

Dr William Gibbon, the medical director at the Family Fertility Center, revealed that the EmbryoScope can take an image of an embryo every ten minutes.

This is a significant improvement from previous practices, which would see an embryo examined on day one after fertilisation, on day three and again on day five.

Dr Gibbons also noted that the clinic now has specialised miniature incubators with fibre optics, providing real-time embryo monitoring in the most gentle environment.

He explained that the new process improves the ability to choose a suitable embryo to start a pregnancy.

The clinic has also teamed up with University of Texas: MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop a specialised fertility preservation programme for women facing cancer.