Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39564830›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of fertility & sterility2024

A Combination of Artificial Intelligence with Genetic Algorithms on Static Time-Lapse Images Improves Consistency in Blastocyst Assessment, An Interpretable Tool to Automate Human Embryo Evaluation: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Marco Toschi, Lorena Bori, Jose Celso Rocha, Cristina Hickman, Marcelo Fabio Gouveia Nogueira, Andre Satoshi Ferreira, Murilo Costa Maffeis, Jonas Malmsten, Qiansheng Zhan, Nikica Zaninovic and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of fertility & sterility, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Marco ToschiIVIRMA Global Research Alliance, IVIRMA Roma, Italy.
Lorena BoriIVIRMA Global Research Alliance, IVI Foundation, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe (IIS La Fe), Valencia, Spain. Email: Lorena.bori@ivirma.com.ORCID 0000-0003-1495-2646
Jose Celso RochaUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Faculdade de Ciências e Letras, Câmpus de Assis SP, Brazil.
Cristina HickmanAria Fertility, London, UK.
Marcelo Fabio Gouveia NogueiraUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Faculdade de Ciências e Letras, Câmpus de Assis SP, Brazil.
Andre Satoshi FerreiraUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Faculdade de Ciências e Letras, Câmpus de Assis SP, Brazil.
Murilo Costa MaffeisUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Faculdade de Ciências e Letras, Câmpus de Assis SP, Brazil.
Jonas MalmstenRonald O Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA.
Qiansheng ZhanRonald O Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA.
Nikica ZaninovicRonald O Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA.
Marcos MeseguerIVIRMA Global Research Alliance, IVIRMA Valencia, Spain.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn recent times, various algorithms have been developed to assist in the selection of embryos for transfer based on artificial intelligence (AI). Nevertheless, the majority of AI models employed in this context were characterized by a lack of transparency. To address these concerns, we aim to design an interpretable tool to automate human embryo evaluation by combining artificial neural networks (ANNs) and genetic algorithms (GA). MATERIALS AND

methodsThis retrospective cohort study included 223 human blastocyst time-lapse (TL) images taken at 110 hours post-injection. All the images were evaluated by five embryologists from different clinics in terms of blastocyst expansion (BE), quality of the inner cell mass (ICM), and trophectoderm (TE). The embryo database was used to develop an AI system (70% training, 15% validation, and 15% test) for automate blastocyst assessment. The entire set of images underwent a standardization process, followed by processing and segmentation using Matlab software. The resulting quantified variables were utilized in AI techniques (ANN and GA). Finally, the accuracy and performance of the automation tool was assessed with the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Then, the level of agreement among embryologists and between embryologists and the AI system was compared with Kappa Index.

resultsThe overall agreement among embryologists was low (Kappa: 0.4 for BE; and 0.3 for TE and ICM). The AI tool achieved higher consistency (Kappa 0.7 for BE and ICM; and 0.4 for TE). The AI exhibited high accuracy in classifying BE (test 81.5%), ICM (test 78.8%), and TE (test 78.3%) and better performance for BE (AUC 0.888-0.956) than for ICM (AUC 0.605-0.854) and TE (AUC 0.726-0.769) assessment.

conclusionOur AI tool highlighted the superior consistency of AI compared to human operators in grading blastocyst morphology. This research represents an important step towards fully automating objective embryo evaluation.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceBlastocystTime-Lapse

Identifiers

PMID39564830
PMCPMC11589968

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.