PGS testing on already frozen embryos

[Dogpark]

Does anybody here have experience with PGS testing of already frozen embryos? I would love to hear about your experience.

I have 1 PGS normal embryo and 10 non tested frozen blastocysts resulting from 4 egg collection cycles. My clinic recommended that I test the 10 already frozen embryos, so as to find out how many normal embryos I have and determine whether I need to do another egg collection cycle. I'm 42, I went through 4 cycles and I am wondering whether to do a 5th egg collection cycle just before turning 43, however I am exhausted and I was wondering if I could avoid the 5th cycle somehow.

I kept on asking my clinic whether all of my embryos were of good enough quality to be tested, and I was reassured that "yes, though some of them might need to be left to expand over night because they need to be expanded enough to be tested". Sure enough, while all of my embryos survived thawing, only 7 were biopsied on the spot, and then 3 of my embryos were left to expand over night because they weren't expanded enough to be tested. Eventually, 1 embryo degenerated over night, so I am now left with 9 embryos. I'm wondering why the clinic decided to leave embryos expand overnight as opposed to leave those embryos non tested?

Also, I just stumbled across an article saying that multiple thaw and refreeze cycles impact pregnancy outcomes for PGS embryos.

Basically, I know this is too late however I feel I haven't made the right choice A lot of clinics recommend not to test already frozen embryos. My clinic is very well known in the UK for their state of the art lab and doing PGS in and out, but still, I'm surprised by their approach to leave embryos to expand overnight.

[CAS2]

I’d be interested to know if anyone has any experience. I have 5 untested in freezer. Would like to test but suspect that not many would be ok and am scared to risk it in case they done survive the thaw and re-freeze!!

[tiger-cub]

Hi there ! I would personally do PGS if possible with those embryos rather than transferring them and then going through the hint of an BFN.

Also the chances of carrying any genetic disease also goes up for women above the age of 40.

[Hidden]

I saw my Consultant today and asked the same question about genetic testing of currently untested frozen blasts. As I only have 2 of them we decided not to test...yet. This is because it was agreed I’d do another IVF cycle including genetic testing anyway. I am 41 btw.

However, he did say we could consider in the future. He said that while there are risks of defrost, refreeze and biopsy, if you have a skilled person doing it, your embryo should be fine. Basically if it’s not, it’s most likely because it was abnormal and therefore not robust enough anyway. Hopefully that gives you some comfort.

It’s a shame they didn’t recommend genetics after each IVF cycle, but I do think with so many frozen blasts (and given your age) it is worth getting the testing done. I, like you, produce a decent number of blasts each cycle, but I’ve miscarried twice from untested transfers due to chromosomal abnormalities. Basically each of the 3 transfers I’ve had resulted in a pregnancy, but only one a live birth. These utilised 6 blasts and we know 5 out of the 6 implanted. You don’t want to endure that or the possibility of a number of BFN. So on balance I think you are doing the right thing.

In terms of leaving a blast to expand, I believe they need to do that to enable them to biopsy. Again, if the blast doesn’t expand there is no point in testing as there is clearly something wrong with it anyway.

While it’s scary getting testing done and receiving the results, it is (from experience) way easier than the expectation of a FET and then early pregnancy that then goes wrong.

From what you say you already know you have 1 genetically normal blast. That’s amazing! Irrespective of the outcome of the current testing, depending on how many kids you want, you could just go ahead and transfer. Save you the trials of more IVF for now. Clearly it’s up to you.

As someone on a very similar journey to you to try to have a sibling for my son, I have my fingers crossed you get some positive news from the testing. Do keep us posted.

Wishing you lots of luck. X

[AliceMoonpie]

I read an article by some doctor at an IVF place in mamchester (some blog post which I can't find now because I can't remember what I was searching for) where he was saying he didn't believe in the pgs because sometimes the pgs could come back saying there were faults in the embryo but that embryo could still go on to be a normal baby. PGS was never offered to us so I didn't pay too much attention to it and may have misrepresented what he said, but may be something to think about.

[Dogpark in reply to AliceMoonpie]

Hi AliceMoonpie,

Apparently there is a 2-5% chance that embryos diagnosed as abnormal end up being normal, depending on your clinic. So, what your consultant mentioned makes sense, although apparently we should see this as a very small chance of happening.