Clinical significance of intercellular contact at the four-cell stage of human embryos, and the use of abnormal cleavage patterns to identify embryos with low implantation potential: a time-lapse study

Embryos with fewer than six ICCPs at the end of the four-cell stage show compromised subsequent development and reduced implantation potential. Deselection of embryos with poor morphology and abnormal cleavage revealed via time-lapse imaging could provide the basis of a qualitative algorithm for embryo selection.