WHAT’S NEXT FOR FENOMATCH?
Finding an egg donor is not an easy task. Long donor waiting lists exist in many countries. . This is where Fenomatch comes in. Launched in 2019 Fenomatch is an innovative facial matching tool. It allows medical teams to compare patients with agg donors. Comparisons are based on their facial characteristics including hair colour, eye colour and ethnicity. Four years on and how has Fenomatch evolved? This article explores how the company has developed its product.
FENOMATCH SCORE – FACIAL MATCHING
When a egg donor or sperm donor is required, the challenge is to find a suitable one. Fenomatch tools address this by focussing on a number of specific questions:
How can we measure scientifically the compatibility of people by their physical characteristics?
How can we automate this process?
How can we avoid human error so the medical staff and patients remain confident that the right donor is chosen?
Today, most IVF centres offer patients an egg donor who shares basic phenotypic traits. But, how do you know if an egg donor really resembles the patient? So, Fenomatch developed an artificial intelligence-based tool that produces objective facial similarity results for each potential donor. This result is the Fenomatch Score. In this way, centres see which donors from the bank are the best match to the patient offering more options for them.
The algorithm on which Fenomatch has been developed has been evaluated and validated by all the centres who actively use it.
BANK CONNECTION AND REQUEST MANAGEMENT
One of the big challenges in assisted reproduction treatments is the shortage of gametes for donation. This means that some patients have to travel for treatment.
Fenomatch has been focused on this shortage since its beginning. As a consequence, it has developed a way to connect all types of IVF centres. This allows for the possibility of sharing gametes.
Clinics and gamete banks can now be connected to find the right donor. Clinics can now request donors from diiferent banks if they do not have access to one. All information is encrypted: banks cannot see data about patients from different clinics, and clinics can’t see the database of banks. This makes it possible to expand the search. IVF centres all over the world can now interconnect and bring better results to their patients: the more donors, the better the selection.
GENETIC MATCHING & VALIDATION
Genetic carrier testing and genetic matching is also popular. More centres are starting to test both their donors and their patients to achieve what is called “Genetic matching”. As a result, Fenomatch has developed its own automated genetic matching process. The matching is then reviewed and validated by a geneticist.
This technology has been incorporated into the tool and it provides more options for IVF professionals. However, this genetic matching and validation is not mandatory.
NEXT STEPS
Fenomatch will continue to work to ensure the product continues to deliver results for patients and clinics. A new version of the tool is planned for the end of 2023. Our moto remains – if we can find a way of helping patients find the best egg donor or sperm donor, we will do it.
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