Blastocyst culture
Visit the Assisted Conception Unit (ACU) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for Blastocyst culture - you can ask your GP to refer you to us.
It is now possible to keep embryos growing in the laboratory up to the blastocyst stage which is reached 5 days after egg collection. These blastocysts can then be transferred to the uterus on day 5.
The potential advantage of this is that by day 5 the embryologist has a much clearer idea of which blastocysts have the best growth potential. It is therefore a non-invasive method of embryo self-selection which leads to a better chance of successful pregnancy.
However, the attrition rate for the embryos is high and many women hoping to have a blastocyst transfer have no surviving embryos.
