PGS in IVF: What is PGS and Everything You Need to Know

What is PGS? Can PGS improve your IVF success chances? Can it stop recurrent IVF pregnancy losses? This article will discuss it all.

This article will briefly discuss what PGS is, how PGS is served as a part of IVF procedure, what advantages PGS and PGD have in IVF pregnancy, the cost addition of PGS and PGD in IVF treatment, along with how you can find the best clinics for PGS and PGD.

What is PGS?

PGS or preimplantation genetic screening is an IVF embryo test to check for any chromosomal abnormalities before the embryo is transferred back to the woman’s uterus after the incubation period.

Chromosomal abnormalities in embryos are when the embryo created in-vitro has a missing, extra, or inconsistent chromosomal DNA portion. A normal human embryo has 23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in total. When the embryo has a missing, extra, or inconsistent chromosome and it is transferred back to the woman’s uterus, it may cause certain complications including pregnancy loss and birth defects.

Therefore, before IVF implantation takes place, IVF doctors often perform a PGS and PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) test by removing one or more cells from the incubating embryos. Since PGS can only assess chromosomal normality, PGD is also performed to diagnose if the embryo has some genetic disease that might be inherited in the child, before IVF embryo transfer.

PGS in IVF

PGS in IVF is a precautionary test to minimize the risk of IVF implantation failure as a consequence of chromosomal abnormalities in the implanted embryo. Multiple studies have evaluated that overall 70% of IVF implantation failures are a result of some chromosomal abnormality in the embryo DNA. Certain studies have also confirmed that over 50% of IVF embryos are chromosomally abnormal due to factors such as female and male partner’s age and their reproductive health. With aging, both female and male partners have a noticeable decline in their respective egg and sperm health which increases the risk of IVF embryos having chromosomal abnormalities. Therefore PGS and PGD of embryos are often tested before they are implanted in the woman’s womb to continue the pregnancy.

Advantages of PGS and PGD

Both PGS and PGD are precautionary tests intended to assess the chromosomal normality of IVF embryos and diagnose the presence of genetic diseases that might be inherited in the child, respectively. The obvious advantages of PGS and PGD tests before IVF embryo implantation are:

• Assesses if IVF embryos have chromosomal abnormalities that might lead to implantation failure.
• Diagnoses if IVF embryos have genetic diseases that might be inherited to the child.
• Reduces the risk of miscarriage during early pregnancy, and
• Reduces the risk of birth defects in the child.

Cost of PGS+PGD

Generally, an IVF cycle does not include PGS or PGD. Most fertility clinics use EmbryoScope which is a newly introduced incubator that allows IVF doctors to analyze the embryos while they are in their incubation period. It has a built-in camera that captures detailed images of the developing embryo in specific time intervals that helps doctors select the embryo for IVF embryo transfer that is healthiest and has the most potential to result in a successful pregnancy.

But, some advanced fertility clinics also offer PGS and PGD with an addition to the patients’ IVF cost in Gurgaon. Genetic screening and diagnosis can come with a raise in your overall IVF treatment cost but is essentially great to minimize the risk of pregnancy loss.

What are The Best Clinics for PGD?

Normally, any fertility clinic in your area that handles a good volume of cases and holds a high IVF success rate is possibly the best choice to consider preimplantation genetic screening and diagnosis from. Grace Fertility is a renowned IVF centre in Jammu whom you can also consider for PGS and PGD as well.

Apart from considering if the fertility clinic handles good cases or has a high IVF success rate, a couple should also look for the clinic’s approach towards their patients, expertise, reputation, and affordability.

Conclusion

PGS and PGD are undoubtedly the best possible precautionary steps to minimise the risk of IVF implantation failures and inheriting genetic disorders to the child. However, most fertility clinics do not offer PGS and PGD along with conventional IVF cycles. But, you can still ask your IVF doctor to perform genetic screening and diagnosis of IVF embryos with addition to your overall treatment cost. If you have had recurrent pregnancy losses and want to improve your IVF success chances, preimplantation genetic screening and diagnosis are a good go.