NCT07270250

Impact of Dry vs Humidified Culture Conditions on Blastocyst Development and Aneuploidy: A Time-lapse Sibling Oocyte Study

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (estimated)
• Sponsor: ART Fertility Clinics LLC · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years – 43 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

IVF incubators are essential for maintaining the micro-environment required for embryo development. Incubator technology has progressed from early humidified box systems to benchtop and now time-lapse platforms, driving the development of dry incubator chambers. Both humidified and dry systems have specific pros and cons. Evidence to date suggests that humidified chambers may support better blastocyst development in certain "no-refresh" continuous culture conditions, but current data are limited and study designs remain weak. This study aims to compare sibling oocytes cultured in dry versus humidified chambers within a GERI time-lapse incubator under continuous culture conditions, assessing effects on viability and developmental outcomes. Findings may inform optimal incubation strategies to improve IVF success rates while supporting uninterrupted workflows and potentially improving cost-benefit efficiency in the IVF laboratory.

Conditions

• Incubator Stay
• Total Blastulation
• Blastocyst Quality
• Biopsy Rate
• Fertilization Rate
• Ploidy Rate
• ICSI

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	K- system incubator	Following oocyte retrieval, collected oocytes will be incubated in Global Total for Fertilization within a K-Systems incubator until the time of denudation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). All mature (MII) oocytes will undergo ICSI at 39-41 hours post-trigger. After insemination, sibling oocytes will be divided as equally as possible and randomly allocated into two separate Geri incubator chambers: Group 1 will be cultured in the dry chamber, and Group 2 will be cultured in the humidified chamber. A predefined randomization list will determine allocation, including cases with an uneven number of oocytes, where the additional oocyte will be assigned according to the list. Both groups will use Global TotalR (GT, CooperSurgical) single-step medium. Embryo culture will be carried out in continuous culture conditions until the blastocyst stage, following the manufacturer's GT protocol, with no Day 3 media refreshment. To minimize procedural variability, one operator will ideally

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-12-31
• Primary completion: 2026-12-31
• Completion: 2026-12-31
• First posted: 2025-12-08
• Last updated: 2025-12-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Arab Emirates