IVF With PGD Success Rates
Couples and individuals in the unfortunate circumstance of living with genetic diseases are often hesitant to start a family, questioning if their children will inherit it. However, with the advancement in assisted reproductive technology, they can now mitigate the chances of passing the diseases to their future babies. Let’s explore what preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) testing is, and how you can benefit from this service when used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF).
What Is Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) Testing?
PGD testing is a procedure used by your fertility specialists and doctor after your egg retrieval and fertilization, and before your embryo transfer in your IVF cycle. During PGD testing, your doctor will examine the embryos to identify genetic defects within embryos created during the IVF process.
PGD is designed to detect specific genetic diseases that might be passed down to your biological child through the examination of DNA. By examining the embryos, your doctors can decrease the chances of genetic diseases (like HIV) from being passed on to your child in the event of a successful pregnancy. During this test, doctors separate the embryos containing problematic genes from those free from defects, which they then transfer to the uterus.
Diseases commonly diagnosed through PGD include:
. BRAC 1 & BRAC 2 genetic mutations
. Cystic fibrosis (CF)
. Duchenne muscular dystrophy
. Fragile X syndrome
. Hemophilia A
. Huntington’s disease
. Myotonic dystrophy
. Sickle cell anemia
. Spinal muscular atrophy
. Tay-Sachs disease
. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Candidates for PGD Testing
The intent of PGD testing is to mitigate the risk of passing down genetic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities to your baby. If you and your partner have a recessive disorder, the chances of genetic inheritance in reproduction is 25%.
PGS testing is recommended for intended parents with known diseases, such as:
. Women older than 37
. Intended parents with known inherited genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis,
. History of recurrent miscarriages due to chromosomal abnormalities
The Benefits of PGD Testing
The primary reason why intended parents chose PGD is to lower your possibility of passing on specific genetic diseases to children conceived, usually during IVF. By using PGD testing, you and your doctors can:
. Identify and avoid fertilizing embryos that carry one (or more) genetic disease and conditions.
. Allow intended parents who are carriers of genetic disorders to conceive with a significantly lower risk of passing those disorders on to your children.
. Improve your chances of a successful pregnancy by transferring the strongest, best embryos into the uterus (thus preventing genetically flawed embryos from being transferred to the uterus).
. Reassess your decision to continue with pregnancy given the embryos available, as implantation has not yet occurred.
. Identify the sex of embryos and select which sex to implant (also known as gender selection at many fertility clinics). However, remember that playing with genes is like roulette – you can tip the odds, but it’s not guaranteed.
It’s important to note that PGD is by no means a comprehensive test of all possible genetic diseases. PGD doesn’t eliminate the risk of having a child with the known genetic disorders for which the embryo tests. This form of testing is highly effective when reducing the risk of having such a child, but further testing may still be necessary during pregnancy.
If you’re considering PGD, you should also be prepared for the possibility that this procedure could reveal that all of your embryos are genetically flawed, meaning that none of them can be transferred to the uterus. And as heart-breaking as this is, your doctors will walk you through your best plan of action and get you back on track for a successful, healthy conception and pregnancy.
For intended parents with no known genetic disorders or diseases, preimplantation genetic screening (PGS/PGT-A) is more suitable for your needs, and can still allow you to examine chromosomal abnormalities and select sex (if desired). In general, most intended parents who are good candidates for PGD find that the benefits outweigh the potential downsides.
PGD Testing Success Rates
While there are not concrete results collected from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), private research has shown PGD testing to increase success rates of IVF.
According to one 2012 study with 229,096 ART cycles performed, 10,407 (4,5%) reported use of PGD. Focused on ART cycles between 2011 and 2012, the research found that PGD cycles showed a decreased odds of miscarriage among women ages 35 to 37 years, and women over 37. Additionally, PGD testing was associated with a 95% chance of clinical pregnancy, a 95% chance of live-birth delivery, and a 95% chance of multiple-birth delivery among women over 37.
However, the study notes that PGD was not observed to be associated with an increased chance of clinical pregnancy or live birth for women less than 35.
Single Cycle IVF Success Following PGD
Single cycle IVF success rates (the chance of becoming pregnant) can be raised significantly when 2 or 3 embryos known to be chromosomally normal are transferred. The chance of healthy pregnancy may double when known genetically normal embryos are utilized. Implantation rates (the chance of each single embryo becoming a gestation) can also be raised greatly with PGD. To determine whether these embryos are chromosomally normal, a PGD analysis is carried out by specialists prior to their selection for transfer to the mother. In a genetically normal embryo, there should be 2 (and only 2) chromosomes of each of 22 chromosome types in addition to one set of XX female or one set of the XY male chromosomes.
Any more or less than 2 will result in defective embryos. This condition is called “aneuploidy” and will result in an embryo that will fail to develop and implant or will miscarry or may even produce a defective baby. When assisting couples that have failed IVF in other programs, PGD allows doctors to go an important step beyond what has been done in the past, and identify and separate the chromosomally normal embryos from those “abnormals” that have no chance of leading to healthy pregnancy. Armed with this crucial genetic information, doctors can assure with quite reasonable certainty that those embryos that truly provide a chance of healthy pregnancy are the ones returned to the uterus.
By employing PGD analysis of embryos, doctors have been able to provide dramatic improvements in IVF success to patients with prior IVF failures. These patients had failed prior IVF attempts prior to becoming pregnant with a PGD process.
Read more about: IVF Success Rates by Age
About Iranian Surgery
Iranian surgery is an online medical tourism platform where you can find the best doctors and fertility specialists in Iran. The price of PGD + IVF in Iran can vary according to each individual’s case and will be determined by an in-person assessment with the doctor.
For more information about the cost of PGD + IVF in Iran and to schedule an appointment in advance, you can contact Iranian Surgery consultants via WhatsApp number 0098 901 929 0946. This service is completely free.
Source:
https://www.pfcla.com/blog/what-is-pgd-testing
https://www.fertility-docs.com/programs-and-services/pgd-screening/pgd-increases-ivf-success-rates.php