At Santasa IVF, Blastocyst culture is advised for patients with multiple failed IVF.

The term "blastocyst" refers to the 5 - 6 days of a human embryo after fertilisation which is made up of about a hundred cells. Blastocyst culture (BC) and transfer is a technique developed for in vitro fertilization (IVF). This procedure intends to maximize pregnancy rates while minimizing the risk of multiple pregnancies.

In standard IVF Embryos are cultured for 3 days before being transferred into the uterus. By extending the culture to 5 or 6 days (blastocyst culture), some embryos will develop to the blastocyst stage. Embryos that survive this stage of development have a high implantation potential once transferred into the uterine cavity.

Allowing the embryos to grow from Day 3 (cleavage stage) to Day 5/6 (blastocyst) allows us to select the embryos with the highest chance of success. The primary benefit to the patient of using blastocyst stage embryo culture is that fewer embryos need to be transferred into the patient because each day 5 embryo has a higher chance of implanting than a day 3 embryo does. Transferring fewer embryos greatly reduces the risk of twin or triplet pregnancies and the associated risks to the mother and child. Additionally, embryos that continue to grow to the blastocyst stage have a lower rate of chromosomal errors and therefore a higher chance of resulting in a healthy baby.