Dr Haroon Latif Khan provided details on how AI is being adopted in fertility clinics for stringent quality control measures to increase pregnancy and live birth success rates.

“As we are living through a technological revolution, AI is being integrated into all aspects of our lives,” he said.

“The live birth rate is the ultimate key performance indicator in assisted reproductive technology, and we are seeing AI being embraced for management of performance, quality and risk,” he said.

“The main targets of this total quality management are in the areas of ovarian stimulation, oocyte retrieval, sperm preparation, embryo development and grading, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, and pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) of embryos.

“Computers as an adjunct in assisted reproduction have been in use for many years for techniques including quick and accurate sperm analysis and electronic monitoring of quality control procedures and protocols.

“PGT has become the norm in fertility clinics for testing embryos for any genetic abnormalities before they are implanted, and this is now fully automated for high accuracy. Vitrification also now relies on AI to enhance survival of gametes, embryos and reproductive tissue.

“In the future, I believe we will see AI increasingly applied to predict the viability of embryos for implantation and in the next generation of reproductive genetics.

“Eventually, every step of an assisted reproductive cycle will be automated resulting in reduced costs, greater work efficiency, and minimised human subjectivity and variability.

“This will result in assisted reproduction being more accessible and the number of IVF cycles will consequently skyrocket.”

However, Dr Haroon insists that “robots” will not take over fertility clinics. “We will still need the human touch to run our laboratories, and the future looks very exciting as we all strive to ensure patient safety remains at the forefront of accessibility and treatment.”

Source: Medindia