3D Printing Could Help Make IVF More Effective

It seems there is no shortage of new and exciting applications for 3D printing, especially in the medical field. And recently UpNano, a system provider for high-resolution and micro 3D printing, and Fertilis, an IVF specialist based in Australia, have announced yet another. The companies claim that, thanks to a novel 3D printing material and 2PP (2-photon polymerization) 3D-printing, they will be able to increase the efficiency of IVF, reducing the overall number of needed implantation cycles.

In vitro fertilization, or IVF as its more commonly known, is one of the most commonly used of the various assisted reproductive technologies. Considering that approximately 12% of women in the USA experience difficulties becoming pregnant, it is perhaps not surprising that by 2014 (more current data is sparse), approximately 1 million babies in the USA had been born via IVF. However, the procedure is costly and not always successful. In fact, the chance of a live birth for women under 30 in their first IVF cycle is about 44%, with this percentage decreasing significantly with age. Due to this, often multiple implantation cycles are required, which can quickly become expensive for the parents to be. This latest research seeks to help rectify that.

The technology from Fertilis (photo credits: Fertilis)

How Can 3D Printing Improve IVF Rates?

Fertilis turned to the 2PP 3D printing method developed by UpNano as well as their new UpFlow material to create a new type of dynamic cell culture to be used in IVF. According to UpNano and Fertilis, it more closely mimics the human body, reducing significant stress on the embryos themselves. This in turn decreases the chance of failure (as repeatedly changing the conditions as is common with IVF increases the risk of failure), with the companies claiming that this solution will allow for a 30-40% reduction of the number of implantation cycles required to get pregnant.