Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis
What is PGD? Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a genetic test that takes place during the IVF (test tube baby) treatment and is done prior to embryo transfer. The goal of PGD is to increase the chance of selecting a healthy embryo that will develop into a healthy baby. PGD is now also called as PGT-M (Pre-implantation genetic testing).
‘’ PGD involves checking the genes or chromosomes of embryos for a specific condition’’.
‘’ You will need to do IVF (test tube baby) process as a part of PGD, even if you and your partner have no fertility problems’’.
Who can go for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis?
- If you are having a family history of chromosome problems
- If you are already having a child with a serious genetic condition and want to avoid this happening again
- If you have a family history of a serious genetic condition
- If you have terminated previous pregnancies because of a serious genetic condition
- Women age 35 and over, women with more than one failed fertility treatment
Note – Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) can be beneficial for partners who both have a family history of genetic disorders, like Cystic Fibrosis (an inherited disorder that affects the lungs & digestive system)or Huntington Disease(progressive brain disorder).’’
‘’PGD was developed in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s (in humans) and it was pioneered by American embryologist and geneticist Alan Handyside, who first used the approach in 1989 to test for the presence of the gene defects that cause cystic fibrosis’’.
How is Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis done?
It begins with the normal process of IVF (test tube baby) that includes egg retrieval and fertilization in a laboratory. Over the next 3 to 5 days, the embryos will divide into multiple cells.
‘’ PGD can test for more than 100 distinct genetic conditions’’.
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis steps:
First, a couple few cells are microsurgically removed from the embryos, which are about five to six days developed in the laboratory. After this cell collection, the embryos are safely and carefully frozen. The DNA of the cells is then evaluated to decide if the inheritance of a troublesome gene is present in each embryo. This process takes at least one full week. Then once PGD has identified embryos free of genetic problems, the embryos will be placed in the uterus (generally by an IVF procedure), and the wait for implantation and a positive pregnancy test starts. Any extra embryos that are free of genetic problems are kept frozen for possible later use at the same time embryos with the problematic genes are destroyed. Getting from the egg retrieval process to the final results of PGD can take a few weeks. The decision regarding the selection of embryos to transfer into the uterus is made with the advice of both the medical and genetics team.
‘’PGD helps lessen the chances of conceiving a child with a genetic disorder’’.
Note – In some cases, further testing may be needed during pregnancy to determine if a genetic factor is still possible.
Is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis safe?
Yes, information collected from many years of PGD in animals and several hundred thousand live births in humans indicates that PGD does not lead to an increase in birth defects over that of the general population, children born after PGD does not show any evidence for a damaging effect of the process on growth or neurological development.
‘’ PGD can be used to identify approximately 4,000 inherited single-gene disorders”.
The benefits of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis:
- It reduces the risk of miscarriage due to structural chromosomal abnormalities
- It enables the transfer of embryos most likely to be unaffected
- It reduces a genetically at-risk couple’s chances of passing a known genetic condition onto their offspring
- Because the quality of the pre-embryo has been proven, fewer pre-embryos are required to establish a successful pregnancy, greatly decreasing the chances of a multiple pregnancies
‘’Pre-implantation diagnosis is becoming an accepted medical practice in many countries’’.
‘’Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is done with an intention to improve the chances of a normal pregnancy and it can be also used to determine the sex of an embryo by some people’’.
Note- Using PGD for gender selection has been considered unethical and illegal in India.
How much does PGD cost?
The treatment cost is determined by the number of embryos. IVF (test tube baby) with PGD in India starts from $5,000.
‘’Genetics disorders such as Tay-Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy, fragile X, thalassemia can be effectively identified by PGD’’.
Which IVF clinic can carry out PGD?
- The clinic should have a genetic license
- The clinic should have an IVF laboratory suitable for advanced culture conditions
- The clinic should have a full-time embryologist trained to carry out the PGD procedure
Discuss your options with IVF Spring Fertility Centre
Established and trusted IVF Spring Clinic gives personalized attention and care to every patient, our tight quality control and expert doctors give us persistently higher success rates. We also make sure to give accurate genetic services. Interested in PGD/fertility talk? Get in touch with our dedicated and hospitable team to discuss your options.