If you are having a recurrent failed IVF, your doctor might recommend IVF PGD.
PGD refers to preimplantation genetic diagnosis usually performed in combination with in-vitro fertilization. IVF PGD screens the fertilized embryo before it is transferred into the woman's uterus for implantation. This is a genetic testing performed by fertility doctors whose aim is to pick the embryos that are free from any genetic disorders and chromosomal abnormalities. Implantation or pregnancy can sometimes fail due to a number of genetic conditions and if pregnancy does happen, a child might be born with mental, physical or developmental issues. Problems like pancreatic cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer, muscular dystrophy, Down's syndrome and Marfan syndrome can be detected beforehand with PGD.
Couples with unexplained infertility, recurrent IVF miscarriages and implantation failures, and women over 35 years old are eligible to undergo IVF PGD.
IVF PGD Procedure
Eggs are harvested from a woman's body through IVF egg retrieval and then combined with her partner's sperm cells in the clinical lab for fertilization. After fertilization, the fertilized eggs will become embryos and start dividing. When the embryos reach the 4 to 10-cell stage, a cell is taken from every embryo for genetic testing. The whole process is very challenging and done with the use of micromanipulators and special microscope. The embryologist must ensure that the embryo sustains the least trauma possible during the process of taking an intact cell for testing.
Benefits of IVF PGD
First, the procedure proves to be a valuable help for couples with identified genetic risks of passing them to their offspring. Second, the prevalence of birth defects are low at 3 to 5% only, while it also prevents the chances of terminating the pregnancy because only embryos that are free from any genetic issues are transferred for optimum pregnancy.
Disadvantages of IVF PGD
The primary disadvantage is the cost of PGD in IVF. While the IVF treatment by itself is already quite expensive, PGD is an added cost. The cost of this type of genetic testing is around $3,000 upwards, which only includes gender determination. If you want your embryos to be checked for any chromosomal abnormalities, you have to pay more. Many go for PGD for abnormality testing to ensure that only healthy embryos are transferred into the uterus. However, the result may be dubious which requires follow-up testing to ensure correct diagnosis. In addition, the procedure is quite risky if you only have limited embryos because you may lose a healthy embryo during the testing.
Lastly, PGD continues to be a hot debate among concerned humanitarian groups with regards to the issue of ignoring healthy embryos in exchange for the ones with the preferred gender. Aside from that, PGD can test tissue compatibility. This means that the technology can be used by malicious people to develop a child whose tissue and blood are compatible with another child requiring transplant.
It is best that you discuss IVF PGD with your fertility doctor to decide whether it is right for you or not.