[Developments within the IVF laboratory]

The area of assisted reproduction is continuing to develop at a rapid pace, especially within the laboratory. So called »time-lapse« photography, where embryos can be kept and assessed in a closed environment, has simplified the crucial handling of gametes and embryos as well as the logistics in the laboratory. Pregnancy and live birth rates have increased considerably since the start of IVF. This is to a large extent due to the implementation of prolonged embryo culture to the blastocyst stage, and to the introduction of vitrification, a cryopreservation technique which has greatly improved the survival rates of oocytes and blastocysts. The concept of single embryo transfer (SET) is being increasingly implemented around the world and has been shown to effectively decrease multiple birth rates, without compromising live birth rates.