PGS Testing?

[Prayingforafamily]

I am 40, had a fresh transfer in February with a bfn however my lining was very thin, just had my second fresh round a freeze all again as my lining isn’t playing, I am having investigations into this however I have heard a lot of PGS testing and considering this if we have many embryos from this cycle before a FET. I have researched it but it seems a very grey area tbh. On one hand I am 40 and it may save a lot of time and heartache however it is very expensive and will totally wipe us out and is it accurate? X advice and any past experiences would be really appreciated. X

[haileyp85]

They basically test the embryos but taking a cell a few days in . They test it for imperfections and disorders. It’s not 100% guaranteed to go an accurate answer. Initially both parents should be tested for genetic disorders as 1 in 500 people carry and don’t realise . I’m a carrier and I’ve opted not to have the tests but it’s your personal decision at the end of the day x

[Prayingforafamily in reply to haileyp85]

Thanks for your reply. What initial tests did you have to find out you were a carrier if you don’t mind me asking? X

[haileyp85 in reply to Prayingforafamily]

It’s a blood test that is done by the hospital. Cutting a long story short my parents where tested when they where expecting my younger brother. My dads test came back as being a carrier . I was tested 10 years ago with my 2 brothers . 2 of us are carriers and one of us isn’t . I have rearranged chromosomes and would never have known if it wasn’t for the test x

[MofM]

I have been discussing PGS with our consultant after a 6w+5 miscarriage of our only embryo. He said that PGS is perfect to understand whether an embryo is chromosomally normal, and does not have any major defect (e.g., large traslocation). However, he suggested that both my partner and I went for a karyotype (which I suppose is the test haileyp85 is referring above) and do PGS only if one of us had some major issue, also to cut costs down. Our karyotypes were ok, so we decided against it.

I had a look into the scientific literature, and it seems that (guess what?) the effectiveness of embryo selection via PGS is not clear and that it has been observed that abnormal embryos go on developing in OK children. So it may be that if you did not do PGS you would have transfered an embryo which would have developed just fine.

On the other hand, it seems that PGS is a good way to prioritize embryo transfer, expecially if you have many of them. Using PGS you transfer the best ones first, and may save money and heartbreaking with subsequence frozen cycles.

As a consequence, I've also read that some consultants think that PGS it is better for young women (with many embryos that are likely normal, to prioritise transfer) rather than for old women (with few embryo which should be given a change to develop in utero).

A very grey are, indeed...

[Prayingforafamily in reply to MofM]

Thanks so much for your response. I think I am going to look into the karyptypes tests, my clinic doesn’t go this, did you have this done through your GP? X

[MofM in reply to Prayingforafamily]

I am afraid you have to do it privately, and it is not cheap. We did it via our clinic abroad (myself there, while my partner got a referral for a private laboratory in London).