Time-lapse incubators and monitoring are used by some IVF clinics for embryo culture. The equipment is expensive, and while some labs use the machines as standard, others offer it at extra cost to patients - known as an 'add-on'.
Since the technology was launched, claims have been made that its use could improve IVF success rates, by reducing accidents and using data derived from time-lapse images to select the embryos with the highest chance of resulting in a live birth. However, the largest randomised controlled trial yet has found no additional benefit.
A Dutch study of over 1700 IVF patients published in the Lancet found no significant difference in pregnancy rates after 12 months between those whose embryos were cultured in a time-lapse incubator or selected using time-lapse monitoring and those where standard practice was followed.