IVF Program
Freezing, Thawing and Lysed Cell Removal.

The benefits of Lysed Cell Removal (LCR)

The IVF stimulation will often produce more eggs and embryos that are needed to be transferred. Freezing these excess embryos can provide couples with extra chances of achieving a pregnancy without having to repeat ovarian stimulation. The embryos are stored in liquid nitrogen at -196ºC (-320 °F) where they can be kept indefinitely. This process can be fairly harsh on the embryos and not all of the cells or embryos survive. Dr. Peter Nagy, RBA's scientific director, is part of a team pioneering a new technique that has been shown to dramatically increase the implantation potential of embryos that have been damaged by thawing. The technique known as Lysed Cell Removal (LCR) has now been implemented at RBA and is giving improved results. It works by making a small hole in the zona pellucida with acid or laser (use of a laser is still experiemental at this stage and currently part of an RBA study) then removing the cells that are damaged by freezing which are thought to either disrupt the development of the embryo or produce negative factors as they degenerate. The video below shows this process more clearly.

Lysed Cell Removal

Lysed cell removal, in pictures.

1. The embryo is held securely in place with a glass holding pipette.	2. A small hole is made in the zona pellucida with acid or a laser.	3. The lysed (dead) cell is removed with gentle suction.

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