Would you do in-depth PGD if you had less than 3 embryos?

[pattieh]

I had three miscarriages (possibly more since there were times that my period came very late) in the past two years. This is our second IVF cycle. I have 3 maturing follicles (others are too small to catch up). When we first consulted the doctor he mentioned that we would have the embryos undergo an in-depth analysis to check for any chromosomal abnormalities (2 of out of the 3 miscarriages were caused by that). Now that I know that I may have 3 or less embryos to implant, would you have them go through the analysis if there were a chance that they wouldn't survive the analysis?

Curious to hear what your thoughts are and what you would do. Not sure if I'd to go through another miscarriage again. The whole idea of us doing the analysis was to prevent it.

[to_have_fun08]

Just a thought. I have heard of ladies that don't produce a lot of eggs doing 2 or 3 cycles, freezing the eggs and then doing PGD. That way there are lots of eggs to choose from and have a chance of having some good ones to transfer. Plus, it would be more cost effective to do PGD on 10 eggs then it would be on 3.

Good luck on whatever you decide. Hope you get your BFP and it sticks for 9 months.

Chris

[AmandaM]

pattieh

I also went through PGD, but mine was to prevent passing on a known genetic condition. I'm not sure who told you that they wouldn't survive the analysis but that isn't true. Of the 3 IVF cycles NONE of me 35+ embryos were damaged doing the PGD.

The only thing that could happen is that none of them maybe be normal and you might not get to transfer, which is probably unlikely. However, that would be better knowing then putting it back if it couldnt survive.


Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Liam'sMommy]

I am doing CGH (i think that is what you are talking about) and banking embryos due to my age. I did it on 5 embryos my first cycle. I had five blasts but only 2 were good enough to freeze. It has been 7 weeks and i am still waiting on results. I start stimming in a couple of weeks for banking cycle number 2. I plan on doing three CGH/banking cycles before ever going to ET. At first, my doc didn't understand why i wanted to do CGH instead of just transferring all. I explained that i would rather test 1-2 embryos per cycle than transfer an abnormal embryo. I don't have time to waste on another m/c and i don't want to be faced with aborting an unhealthy fetus. If not having another m/c is the most important thing to you and you can swing the extra cost then i say do it.

One more thing, i would not do it unless your clinic vitrifies the embryos. Slow freeze, which is the most common type of freezing, causes ice crystals to form in the embryos causing many to die. It isn't the biopsy process that gets them if they have a good lab and experienced embryologist. It is the freezing.

HTH Kelly

[kate65]

We did PGD our first cycle and I wouldn't do it again. We had 9 embryos -- all healthy and growing -- that went out for PGD and all 9 tested irregular. At the time, we were devastated and cancelled the cycle.

After getting a second opinion, I've learned that a lot of doctors are starting to recommend against it. The main reason is that PGD tests only one cell from the embryo and it's really not that unusual for some cells in an embryo to be irregular. If the majority of cells are good, they can repair and the embryo can grow to be a perfectly healthy baby. Also, there is some controversy about the technique itself, which does run the risk (though low) of damaging the good embryos.

It's no fun (believe me, I've been through a couple miscarriages and know how devastating that is), but your body will do a perfectly good job of screening out the genetically abnormal embryos naturally, and after giving them a fair shot at making it. That's my two cents.

Kate

[bdantonio]

i would do testing if it could prevent from having a mc.. i had 5 of them and i so would never want another, unfortunitly we have no idea why my body rejected them they were all healthy