Increasing the chances of pregnancy rate: Preimplantation Genetic Screening to screen embryos before implantation
Advanced ART technique PGS can accurately detect genetic disorders to ensure a healthy baby
Preimplantation Genetic Screening to screen embryos before implantation press meet was held today (25.4.2018) at Hotel Vijay Elanza, Coimbatore. In this press meet Dr. Meenakshi Priya, Fertility Consultant at Nova IVI Fertility, Coimbatore gave the talk about redefining IVF success rate in Coimbatore.
Nirmala (name changed), is 29 years old and married for 6 years to Mr. Surya (35). She had conceived naturally 6 months after marriage, but unexpectedly had a miscarriage at two months of gestation. Two years later, she conceived, but unfortunately that time also it was a miscarriage at 3 months of gestation. When the couple went for a complete evaluation, it was diagnosed that Nirmala is a carrier of a rare genetic disorder, which was the cause of the recurrent miscarriage.
The dejected couple went for multiple consultations. They were advised to go for another conception, and have a trial and check at 3 months. But Nirmala was afraid, and did not want to go through the physical and emotional turmoil of another miscarriage. The couple sought other options and found out about Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS). When Nirmala and Surya visited Nova IVI Fertility, they were explained about the process of IVF with PGS. PGS was done on ten day 3 embryos, out of which 3 were found to be normal. Two chromosomally normal embryos were transferred, and now Nirmala is the happy mother of a healthy baby.
Dr. Meenakshi Priya, Fertility Consultant at Nova IVI Fertility, Coimbatore said, “If one of the parents is a carrier of any particular disease, there is a 25% chance that the child will be affected by the same. The screening of abnormalities in embryo has become a revolutionary advancement in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). PGS is observed to improve the success rate of IVF by 15-20%.”
Benefits of PGS include
- Detailed genetic information of patients
- Elimination of embryos with any chromosomal abnormalities
- Embryos of good quality can be selected to transfer to the uterus for a higher pregnancy rate
Chromosomal abnormalities are responsible for more than 50% of miscarriages in early pregnancy. They can be due to a faulty egg or faulty sperm, which results in chromosomally abnormal embryos. The risk of having an embryo with the wrong number of chromosomes is greatly affected by the age of the mother too. For women in their early thirties, about one quarter of the eggs and embryos have an abnormal number of chromosomes, but for women over 40 it is usual for more than half of the embryos produced to be abnormal.
PGS technology is used for patients who have experienced several miscarriages or infertility. In PGS, embryos are screened for aneuploidy (missing or additional numbers of chromosomes), which is one of the most common causes of miscarriage and implantation failure.
“Women over 35 who have a higher risk of having a baby with a chromosomal disorder or those with a family history of chromosomal problems or women with history of recurrent miscarriages should definitely opt for PGS test before trying for another pregnancy. Nova IVI Fertility is the pioneer to use Array CGH PGS technology in India. The main advantage of this technology is that only chromosomally normal embryos are transferred for a successful delivery. Moreover, it allows single embryo transfer to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies. As an advancement to array CGH technology for PGS, now the latest technique is NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) which is cost effective, accurate and even faster,” said Dr Meenakshi.
Fertility specialists are vouching for the modern technology, which has a predicted accuracy of 98% for detecting any chromosomal abnormalities in the embryos. Apart from giving greater implantation rates and improved IVF clinical outcomes, PGS mitigates several reproductive challenges associated with maternal age.