PGS - thoughts?

Hi ladies,

First - my thoughts are with everyone who have had their cycles cancelled. It is an extremely stressful time so I hope everyone is coping the best they can.

I was wondering what your thoughts are about PGS? If there was no extra cost, would you do it? Would you recommend it?

Thanks xx

[ttcemmie]

Hi Anna_88. Personally, it looks like I would never have enough embryos to do it.....but I thought I would want to do it so that my embryos have the best possible chance of implantation. BUT it seems to be quite a lot of luck whether embryos implant or not..... and now I am leaning very much the other way and almost think I want to start doing day 3 transfers! I'm thinking quantity over quality at this point. Just throw as many as possible at it and see what sticks as quality hasn't been an issue so far, and yet I'm still not pregnant......

[Chel91]

In my current cycle I only got 3 fertilised embryos. In which case I would not consider PGS testing since I don't have many anyway. Personally, I would rather just put them back and wait and see.

I've already thought about it for the future though. If this cycle fails, then next cycle I would consider it if I have more than 2 or 3 to test... but if I have low numbers again I would probably not. I suppose if it was 100% free I would consider it on any that I froze. I think it is definitely recommended if you have repeated failed cycles, especially if you have several embryos to choose from!! xx

[KiboXX]

Hi Anna,

I did PGS testing on my most recent cycle, which was our fourth one. I’d done early transfers, double transfers, 5 day transfers and nothing has worked. We moved clinics, changed protocols and decided to do PGS. I was done with just throwing eggs in there and hoping it worked so I wanted to know if there was a fundamental issue with our embryos.

We got 3 blasts and all 3 came back PGS normal so we were ecstatic. Our first transfer of one of those worked and I’m 13 weeks pregnant.

For me it was 100% the right thing to do because even if it hadn’t of worked, I felt like I would have had answers xxx

[C_C_H in reply to KiboXX]

Hello! Firstly congrats on a successful cycle! My 3rd round just failed so I have been thinking about PGS testing for the next. I’m not overly familiar with how it works but do they test straight after collection or once fertilised? And do you tend to test all and then select the best ones for transfer? Assuming you can still freeze after testing if needed?

Thanks x

[KiboXX in reply to C_C_H]

Thank you!

So they only do PGS on 5 or 6 day blastocysts as it’s to check the embryo‘s chromosomes are normal. They take a tiny biopsy and then send it off for testing. All the embryos get frozen whilst you wait for the results, which can take up to two weeks. You can then do a frozen cycle after the results are back. We did our collection in November, took December off as a break and then did the transfer in Jan xx

[MontsJ in reply to KiboXX]

Would you mind sending me a private message with which clinic you had your PGS testing at?

[KiboXX in reply to MontsJ]

Sure no problem 😊 x

[Wehavethis]

Hi Anna

I tested due to my age - 42. I produce a lot of eggs and out of three cycles only one turned out viable for transfer after testing and it has resulted in a positive test. I know there are two schools of thought on this and clinics appear to have different approaches. Wishing you the best with whichever decision you take x

[Fingerscrossed38]

Definitely. I did it and it was not free but so much more peace of mind knowing I wouldn't need to make a heartbreaking decision at 12 weeks or lose a pregnancy because of a chromosomal abnormality. There is enough guess work in infertility if I can eliminate something I will.

[Maggiemooi]

Hi Anna, I am considering it but very undecided. Under normal times, I probably wouldn’t because I don’t expect many embryos and would want to give each little fella it’s chance. In the current climate, it may be some time before I can do an FET and so I’m inclined to do PGS testing if I have anything to freeze so at least I know the situation. Realistically though this is probably the last chance I will have to use my own eggs so part of me does not want to know and hold onto the hope that it might happen! Really undecided - I think I will end up seeing how it goes and making a snap decision next week.

[Hidden]

As a PGD patient I wouldn’t do it if you don’t have good reason too. It’s a numbers game for everyone but it’s worse for PGD because of the drop off rates in week after egg collection. If you weren’t expecting many embryos then doing PGD could well mean you get nothing to transfer from the round. I’m having IVF for genetic disease reasons rather than fertility and in our first round we had a high graded blast transferred which failed and I’m about to hear that our second round had nothing suitable at all. We got three embryos this time: 3 affected and 1 inconclusive. I get that my reasons for pursuing it are different but I would think long and hard before pursuing it.

[Peony85]

Hi Anna, I had wanted to do it on my first cycle but we had none make blast - and that made us reconsider for the future ones. For our next one we are planning to do it since I had a MMC - which was horrible and I want to reduce the chances of that happening. Wishing you all the best. Xx

[Missy_22]

We had PGD on our last 6th round and decided to do it as my friend did and for twins. We got triplets! Wished we had done this sooner. Yes it’s more money but worth it. Good luck x

[WinnieM]

I personally would 100% recommend it. I don’t produce many eggs, so I had to ‘batch’ collect them over time. It took me 5 rounds to get 6 ‘day 5’embryos. After almost 2 years of treatment I wanted to be sure I was transferring an embryo which had the best chance of implanting and maintaining pregnancy.

It takes your chances from 30% to about 65%. I wanted to reduce the chance of more waiting and more heartache so we PGS tested as we went along. I got 3 PGS normal embryos out of 6 that were sent over time. I did my first transfer in Feb and am currently almost 7 weeks pregnant.

How it works...They wait until the embryo reaches day 5 ‘blastocyst’ stage (sometimes it can be day 6 or 7 if they wait for some to catch up) they just take a few cells from what will eventually become the placenta.

PGS not only increases chance of pregnancy, if reduced the chance of MC. Though of course, nothing is guaranteed.

We’ve been trying for a baby for almost 8 years so in my personal circumstance I just didn’t want to leave it to pot luck which embryo they transferred (as in my case, knowing what i know now, it would’ve been 50/50 chance of getting it right)

During my egg collection/batching I had already had two cancelled cycles (due to poor response)...and I have previously had a MC. Each time a cycle is cancelled or there’s a MC you have to wait a few months to ‘go again’, I was running out of energy/steam so wanted to give it my best shot.

But I would say, if you’re under 35 and produce a good amount of eggs that go onto to produce good grades embryos you might not need to PGS. If you’re saying it’s no extra charge than it’s a no brainer in my opinion, I would go for it.