FAQs from Egg Freezing Patients About VIOLET™
WHAT IS VIOLET™?
VIOLET™ provides you with images of your eggs (oocytes) and personalized predictions of the likelihood of each egg becoming a day five or six embryo (called a blastocyst) based on comparisons with over 150,000 other egg images and their outcomes.
VIOLET™ also provides you with a personalized prediction of achieving successful pregnancy out of the group of eggs you’ve retrieved. Historically, Live Birth predictions have been based only on patient age and number of mature eggs retrieved, but we know that everyone’s health is unique – so why would we expect every person of the same age to have the same outcomes?
The VIOLET™ report is designed to be patient-friendly, empowering you to be a more informed participant in your fertility journey. Its insights enable you to have a clearer, personalized understanding of your fertility, thus helping to improve your future planning in consultation with your physician.
HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) ASSESS OOCYTE QUALITY?
VIOLET™ uses a type of AI called Deep Learning, which can be used to process vast quantities of images to recognize patterns that are invisible to the human eye. Our software has processed more than 150,000 oocyte (egg) images and their outcome data (ex. Did the oocyte in the image fertilize and form a blastocyst?) across different patient types and geographies. Through this robust analysis, the AI has learned which features of an oocyte image are most related to blastocyst outcomes.
When new oocyte images are uploaded to the Future Fertility software by your fertility lab, the AI instantly compares the new image to all the others it’s seen before and provides a prediction of your oocyte’s probability of resulting in successful outcomes.
WHY IS BLASTOCYST DEVELOPMENT AND EUPLOIDY IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER IN EGG FREEZING?
A blastocyst is an advanced embryo stage whereby the egg has been successfully fertilized by sperm and has developed for 5-6 days. Reaching the blastocyst stage is a key milestone because these embryos have a higher chance of implantation when they are transferred into the uterus. Euploidy blastocysts are considered chromosomally normal embryos, having 23 pairs of chromosomes, and have lower rates of genetic errors and are more likely to develop into a healthy baby. It is important to remember that even euploid blastocysts may not result in a live birth, because of other processes and factors that need to occur to support implantation and ultimately a successful pregnancy.
WHY DOES THE VIOLET™ REPORT ONLY REFER TO MATURE OOCYTES?
Only mature oocytes (eggs) are suitable for egg freezing. Generally, immature oocytes are not frozen for future use as they have not completed the necessary developmental steps to enable fertilization.
WHAT DOES THE PERCENTAGE BESIDE EACH EGG IMAGE MEAN?
The percentage displayed for each egg image reflects the likelihood that the egg will successfully fertilize and develop into a blastocyst, assuming the sperm is healthy. This prediction is produced by VIOLET™ AI technology.
HOW IS THE LIVE BIRTH PREDICTION CALCULATED?
Your live birth prediction is based on (1) your personalized egg quality assessed by VIOLET™ and (2) statistical modelling which accounts for impacts of egg freezing and thawing, as well as the euploidy prediction which influence your chances of reaching live birth. The prediction estimates the chances that you will have at least one or two babies from all the eggs you froze. VIOLET™ technology provides more personalized predictions because it is analyzing the pictures of your own eggs.
WHY DOES MY OVERALL LIVE BIRTH PREDICTION DIFFER FROM THAT OF ONLINE EGG CALCULATORS?
The online egg calculators use your age and number of eggs that were retrieved to calculate the chance of live birth. This assumes that all patients of the same age are expected to have the same outcomes, and that all eggs from one person are of equal quality. Our research has proven otherwise. VIOLET™ technology provides more personalized predictions because it is analyzing the pictures of your own eggs.
HOW DOES THE LIVE BIRTH PREDICTION IMPACT MY FERTILITY PLANNING?
Your unique prediction is compared to a standard approach of calculating live birth which uses only your age group and total number of eggs. If the live birth prediction is lower than expected, you may decide to pursue additional egg freezing cycles to increase your cumulative chance of success. If you pursue multiple cycles, Future Fertility provides a complimentary VIOLET™ summary report with updated calculations based on your eggs and their unique predictions. VIOLET™ technology provides more personalized predictions because it is analyzing the pictures of your own eggs.
WHY ARE MY EGGS RECEIVING LOW PROBABILITIES?
There are various reasons why your eggs may be receiving low probabilities. Our AI technology assesses features of the egg that are both detectable and undetectable to the human eye. It is the combination of these features that generate the prediction for your egg. These reasons should be discussed with your clinician, who has more information about your overall health.
DO HIGH PROBABILITIES GUARANTEE THAT I WILL HAVE BLASTOCYSTS OR A LIVE BIRTH FROM MY EGGS?
Due to the nature of fertilization and embryo development, no guarantees can be made from these predictions. Physiology can be very unpredictable, but these predictions provide your clinician with more information about your fertility health to aid in decision making along your treatment journey.
DO HIGHER PREDICTIONS ENSURE ALL OF MY EGGS WILL SURVIVE THE FREEZING / THAWING PROCESS?
Despite the prediction outcomes, not every egg may survive the freezing / thawing process. However, with current technology in most clinics, the number of eggs that survive should be quite high. Our VIOLET™ predictions for the number of blastocysts expected post-thawing takes into account the average expected survival rate of eggs undergoing the thawing process. For more information, it is recommended that you ask your clinic about their survival and success rates for frozen / thawed eggs.
WILL A SPECIFIC EGG BE SELECTED WHEN IT IS TIME TO USE THEM?
The VIOLET™ report provides information about your eggs, but how that is utilized when the time comes is dependent on your clinician. VIOLET™ is a decision support tool, not a selection tool.
WILL THE PROCESS OF GENERATING A VIOLET™ REPORT HARM MY EGGS?
There is no additional risk to your eggs in generating a VIOLET™ report. Embryologists routinely review retrieved eggs under a microscope as part of the egg freezing process, and taking an image of the egg during that review adds no additional risk to your eggs. Images are then uploaded to the Future Fertility software to generate an egg quality assessment report.
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