IVF Break Through!

The first certified clean room for IVF in Nevada!

With any laboratory work, cleanliness is important.  With IVF, it is even more essential, as the slightest alteration in conditions can be the difference between success or failure.  Duke University recently spent 6 Million Dollars on a new IVF facility that contains a certified clean room, which significantly reduced the amount of dust in their lab and improved their results.  As I trained at Duke, I felt that it was important for my patients in Las Vegas to have a similar benefit.  So, therefore, Red Rock Fertility Center is equipped with a specialized air handling system that meets the standards to be certified as an ISO Class 6 Clean Room.  This is the first certified clean room for IVF in Nevada and one of only 3 on the entire West Coast.

Why is dust a concern for IVF? 

In a typical medical office building, there are about 1 million microscopic particles (dust) floating in each cubic foot of air.  It is startling to the average person how much dust is in the air, as you cannot see 99% of it.  While working with embryos in the lab, it is not a good thing for these particles to get in the dish with the embryos.  Why?  Because these particles used to be a piece of something, like paint, sheet rock, dirt, etc.  If these get in the dish with the embryos, this can drastically alter the embryo environment and decrease the probability of achieving pregnancy.

As a result, Red Rock Fertility Center has an advanced HEPA filtration system that changes and filters all of the air in the lab every minute.   The IVF lab consistently has a particle count which is less than 50 particles per cubic foot of air.  This is an extremely low number and very difficult to achieve. To put it in perspective, 999,950 particles are being filtered from each cubic foot of air.

Other important components to an excellent IVF lab  are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and temperature management.  VOCs are similar to particles, in that small amounts of them can get into the culture dish and affect the culture environment.  VOCs are toxic to humans (think diesel exhaust) and even more toxic to embryos.

What are volatile organic compounds?

VOCs are smelly substances that come from glue, adhesives, fuels, etc.  These compounds are very toxic to humans and especially toxic to embryos.  Most people can easily smell gasoline and glue.  The problem is that the level which can be sensed by the nose is approximately 100 times higher than the level which is toxic to embryos. 

Our Center has a very sophisticated VOC filtering system with over 140 pounds of absorbent media to keep the VOC levels well below the embryo toxic threshold of 500 parts per billion.  The VOC levels are measured frequently and they are consistently between zero and twenty parts per billion.  This ensures that your embryos are kept in as clean of an environment as possible.

Temperature

Embryos like to live at 98.6 degrees Farenheit.  This is the natural temperature of the body.  Most commercially available thermometers have a measure of error of 1 to 2 degrees Farenheit.  At Red Rock Fertility Center, we use a thermometer that has a measure of error of 0.0024 degrees Farenheit.  It is a research grade thermometer manufactured and calibrated by Hart Scientific.  We use this thermometer to calibrate all of our incubators and areas with which your embryos will come into contact.  This ensures that their experience at our center will be as close to the human body as possible. 

What does this mean for you?

This means that your embryos will be in an ultra-clean, temperature -controlled environment.  Numerous studies have shown that pregnancy rates are higher in cleaner labs.  Rest assured that your embryos will protected from toxic chemicals and particles during their stay at Red Rock Fertility Center.