While modern assisted reproduction has reliable methods of overcoming almost all sperm pathology, egg quality remains a major unresolved issue. Up to 85% of chromosomal abnormalities found in preimplantation embryos originate from the oocyte. Importantly, 90% of chromosomal errors in oocytes take place at the first meitotic division, which means that by the time an egg reaches IVF laboratory the fate of the embryo which can be created from it is already sealed.     

It has been well established that ovarian stimulation has a profound influence on eg quality. Minimal ovarian stimulation, or mini stim, for example, has been credited for improving egg quality in the females of advanced reproductive age presumably by reducing the level of FSH. But FSH level reduction also inevitably reduces the number of harvested eggs, reducing  

Physicians Ovarian stimulation is Thus, all 100% of oocytes are chromsomally normal up to administration of ovulation trigger and  take place within minutes of an ovulation trigger as the meiosis . When poor egg quality is inferred after IVF cycle which has not produced viable embryo, it is never known whether it was intrinsic or the result of ovarian stimulation or both. 

As humans, we cannot see what we do not yet understand. The new understanding of ovarian cycle physiology enables us to see more, interpret with better clarity and act in less empirical manner with more customization. 

The main practical implication of the new paradigm is shifting focus from parameters of the follicle (E2 and size) to egg quality markers. Term Stim™ platform puts this approach into action and initial published cases are promising.

This matters most in patients with poor egg quality, whether idiopathic or age-related. These are the patients who have been through standard stimulation protocols and still produced no viable embryos due to suspected poor egg quality. 

Why a Consortium – and Why Now

At this time we have already built software platform, Term Stim™ and accompanied mobile app, specifically for putting new reproductive physiology into practice. It has been currently used by several physicians for their clinical cases. 

The next step is fine-tuning Term Stim to make it scalable through use of AI. We cannot train AI on historical stimulation data, because every prior protocol was grounded in legacy physiology. Instead, we are building something new from the ground up – a small consortium of approximately ten highly experienced fertility physicians who will treat poor egg quality cases using the Term Stim platform, and in doing so, apply new physiology, continue distilling the new theory into rules that can be handed over to AI to apply. 

Required participation in educational activities

Participating physicians will be required to participate in internal educational activities to become knowledgeable about the updated physiology. Optionally, they will also receive assistance with patient’s data interpretation at their request.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Consortium as a group and individual participating physicians will advertise Term Stim and offer it to qualifying patients (who has failed IVF due to poor embryo quality and declines donor egg). The physician will enter her cycle data into the platform, which generates real-time recommendations as the cycle progresses. Physicians will share the Term Stim platform under business associate agreements, enabling peer case consultation across the consortium at their request. The physician retains full clinical discretion at every step.

The Horizon

We estimate approximately one year to train the AI agent sufficiently to handle the most difficult cases and therefore bring new level of optimization to all cases. At this point it will be released globally.

Not a research project

Consortium is not a research, but a commercial project for training AI agent. All accumulated training rules and data will be imbedded into Term Stim™ platform owned by Translational Fertility LLC (TF), without intent for publication, unless the decision is made to publish at a some later point with permission from TF.   

Limited use of AI

AI in Term Stim platform does not automate the process and instead provides a transparent recommendation making it exempt from FDA regulations. 

Physician’s autonomy

Participating in consortium is not in any way interferes with a physician’s clinical judgement and does not require physician to follow Term Stim recommendations. From the clinical perspective it is a mere educational opportunity. 

Cost of Term Stim

TBD