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The Dallas IVF Super Clean Room
The Clean Room
Every IVF Center has an embryology laboratory. In the laboratory, all the technical components of assisted reproductive technology occur that help embryos grow and divide. Not all labs are the same. Many, but not all, embryology labs have a biological ‘clean room.’ A ‘clean room’ is vital to keeping the pregnancy rates high. These ‘clean rooms’ remove particulate matter that can compromise embryo quality and lead to lower pregnancy rates. The ‘traditional’ filter for cleaning an embryology laboratory is a Hepa filter. Hepa filters consist of a series of fibrous filters that trap particulate matter. Hepa filters are also used extensively in hospital operating rooms to trap bacteria and fungus that can lead to infections in patients.
The removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is of critical importance in an IVF lab. VOCs are small organic molecules including benzene, styrene, and formaldehyde, which are present in the environment, and in all buildings, including IVF centers. VOCs occur when commonly used materials, such as plastics, glues and paints ‘gas off,’ releasing organic compounds into the environment that can be harmful to embryos. IVF laboratories often have higher amounts of these VOCs than ambient air because of the plastics, media and equipment components used in these same labs that are constantly ‘gassing off.’ Although the removal of particulate matter with Hepa filters is of importance, the removal of VOCs is even more critical. Hepa filters do not remove VOCs. These very small VOCs easily pass through Hepa Filters. A majority of the IVF labs in the country do not have filtration systems to remove these VOCs. Numerous studies have demonstrated that VOCs are detrimental to embryo development and implantation. Dallas IVF, and other nationally leading IVF centers believe that the removal of these VOCs is essential.
To prevent VOCs from accumulating in the embryology lab and the IVF areas, Dallas IVF is equipped with charcoal and potassium permanganate filters (in addition to Hepa filters) that are able to capture these VOCs and remove them from the air. Furthermore, our filtration system exchanges the air 15 times an hour. We commissioned AlphaEnvironmental , one of the world’s leading air quality firms, to design and monitor our system to ensure that Dallas IVF has one of the cleanest “clean rooms” among IVF centers in the world! Our embryology and operating rooms are tightly sealed and pressurized and designed with the specific intent to limit the production and effect of VOCs. One of the reasons we built our own center from the ground up (in contrast to refurbishing an existing building), was that we had complete control over material selections. Products that had high VOCs were not used in the construction of the center.
You may have heard the expression, “build a better car.” We built a better lab. Not all clean rooms are the same, and, certainly, not all IVF labs are the same. Dallas IVF is committed to giving our patients the best opportunity to conceive. Our “clean room” was built for just that purpose.
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