Hi all just wondering has anyone done pgs testing on there embryos and had a successful pregnancy? also how much did it cost? I just want to avoid another miscarriage if I can as to just transfering and getting a bfp but to find later baby stopped growing.... Xx
Hi all just wondering have any of you... - Fertility Network UK
Hi all just wondering have any of you done pgs?
53 Replies
•
Hi Eram,
Sorry again about your recent miscarriage 😢 I did PGS on my fourth cycle. I had a mc on my first followed by two bfn cycles so I did it because I wanted to know if there was something wrong with our embryos. We were lucky and got three PGS normal embryos and I’m 14 weeks pregnant from the first transfer of a single one of those.
We paid £500 per embryo which was better for us as we never have huge numbers. I know a lot of clinics charge a set amount for up to 6 so worth getting others feedback as well xx
• in reply toKiboXX
Thanks hun.
so do you think if it was not for pgs tested embryos you wouldn't of got pregnant? What grades were yours when tested? Xx
• in reply toKiboXX
Sorry you had losses hun and glad u are pregnant after pgs. Xx
KiboXX• in reply to
We made a lot of changes in our fourth cycle, new clinic, new protocol plus PGS so for us it was a combination of all of those that got us to here I think!
I definitely had more confidence that the pregnancy was viable because of PGS. I wasn’t worried when we had our screening at 12 weeks that something might be picked up either so it definitely helped me with anxiety xx
• in reply toKiboXX
Absolutely 😐because at least you know with pgs it's normal and you don't have that worry. What grades were they? I have four blastocysts in the freezer so do they just pick one and test it and if it's not normal the 500 pound is obviously lost and the embryo? And then you would have to pay 500 again for another test? Xx
Corchi• in reply to
Yes
KiboXX• in reply to
My clinic don’t give out grades. Normally you would thaw all four, biopsy them and refreeze them. Results take around 2 weeks.
You can get one of three results - normal which is good, abnormal which are discarded or mosaic which means they have a mix of normal and abnormal cells. Mosaic embryos are useable sometimes, but that a discussion to have with your doctor if you had one.
I know it’s difficult to think that an embryo might be discarded but ones that come back abnormal would not have made a healthy baby so you might end up with less embryos but the chances of a healthy pregnancy are much so higher x
I can’t stress it enough. I would recommend always doing. I did it and feel so much calmer let me know if you have any questions xxx
• in reply toCorchi
We will do pgs xx
• in reply toCorchi
Do they tell u what is wrong with the embryo through pgs? Xx
Corchi• in reply to
No. They tell you only that they are healthy. Healthy means all 46 chromosomes are intact. Miscarriage is greatly greatly reduced as usually it’s a chromosomal issue. Usually
Fingerscrossed38• in reply to
Mine did identify which chromosomes were deleted or added so we could figure out what was wrong.
Hope you don't mind me gatecrashing your post - when I looked into this my clinic told me that I would need a minimum number of embryos to make it worth while - is this true and what everyone else has done?
He said we would have to do 3 - 5 freeze all rounds at a minimum and save them all up and then have them all tested together - is this the case?
Corchi• in reply to
This I don’t know. I wasn’t told that ever from the beginning. I was allowed to do however many there were. I was lucky to get 6 and I tested them all. It’s also way cheaper here at 800 euros one off and then 180 euros per embryo
• in reply toCorchi
Thanks so much for getting back to me - masses of luck for your future as a mummy xx
KiboXX• in reply to
Hi Daisy,
I would guess your clinic probably charge a set amount for testing 6 or 8 embryos so to make it better financially for you, back to back collections to get as close to that number is often suggested.
My clinic charges by embryo instead so we didn’t have to do this x
Corchi• in reply to
Thank you sweetheart
Corchi• in reply to
Of course whatever you need !!!
Fingerscrossed38• in reply to
My London clinic didn't have a minimum. If you had more than 10 you wouldn't have to pay for any over the initial 10 but I guess that's because it's harder to get that many. I got 9 blastocysts from my first and only retrieval. 6 came back pgs normal. Lots of clinics also let you "bank" so you can do a few retrievals and then have them PGS tested in one go but I'm not sure how it works exactly because they need to get the biopsy from a fresh blastocyst and then send that away and freeze the blastocyst whilst you wait for the results...we didn't want a huge amount because for us they are little lives but we also didn't know how many we'd have to go through before one finally worked...it's so difficult.
WinnieM• in reply to
My clinic recommended testing as we went along, so we knew where we stood, we were doing multiple rounds and egg batching. Because we tested as we went along, we know whether we needed to do an additional round or not, based on what ‘normal’ ones we had so far. Many clinics do a deal 6 -8 tested for X £ but we asked for a special price per embryo as we knew we would only be testing 2-4 at a time and they accommodated.
Hi! We did. In our second cycle: got 3 eggs, were lucky and the 3 were normal. Transferred one in march last year, our baby was born in December 😊.
I think it was about 2000€ for up to 8 embryos.
All the best luck xxx
Our first IVF cycle failed as they used the old pgs method of taking cells from the embryos. Both came back with no result. One was retested and came back normal but I believe the reason it didn’t implant is they tampered with it too much and had to thaw it twice.
This round we have 3 embryos and all were tested before freezing them, they actually only have to test the slide that the embryo was sitting on, so no tampering! All came back normal! Waiting for FET transfer
Can I ask what you mean by the Old method? what is the difference between the old and newer method then? We've not had PGS testing but I considering it and one of my worries is them damaging the embryo like you have mentioned above thank you
Hi, I did PGS/PGT-A for our 4th round. At the time our clinic offered a pre payment of ‘8 biopsies over a 12 month period’. Think it was around £2.3/2.6k. Since we got 5 blastocysts during ivf round 3 this offer suited. We got 6 blasts. 1 tested normal, 1 no result (has re-biopsies and came back as normal, 4 abnormal. Results took about 2 weeks at our clinic in Manchester. First transfer was negative. Second transfer of the re-biopsied embryo was positive but we had a very early miscarriage. We plan to do PGS again. I believe the clinic now just charges per biopsy. £1150 charge initially for the set up required for the PGS then £295 per embryo. Cost of the IVF etc is on top of that (we pay for ICSI also). We feel it’s worthwhile doing for us as at around 2k per frozen transfer, has we transferred all 6 embryos that would have cost us a lot more than the two transfers we did combined with the PGS cost. Plus money aside it’s the emotional investment and time associated with doing 6 transfers. I just felt it helped me conserve my reproductive years somewhat. I would say that the negatives are slightly harder to deal with when you know the embryo is ‘normal’. Wishing you lots of luck lovely xx
• in reply toDogmum37
Hi Dogmum. Im not sure if i can ask for it in here but do you mind sharing your clinics name with me(maybe dm me?) as im looking into private clinics in manchester? Thanks 🙏
I am considering this after 4 failed cycles.explained fertility.I am 37.amh of 5.8. What is the difference in pga or pgs?and how exactly do they test the embryos?does it not damage the embryo to test it? And once tested if it's abnormal does it just get discarded?😥are the chances of getting pregnant from it so low they get rid?I assume they never put back in abnormal ones?
Also I've heard you could test one part of the embryo and it's deemed ok but other half may not be?? Is that true? Trying to work out if it's worth it.although I don't produce many embryos I might not get enough to try.thanks sorry lots of questions x
Hi Flora,
I don’t know the answers to all of your questions but will try and answer as many as poss!
- PGT-A and PGS is exactly the same and tests for chromosome abnormalities.
There is a different genetic test called PGD which tests for a specific condition if you are a known carrier (such as cystic fibrosis).
- You can get one of three results back when an embryo is tested. Aneuploid (abnormal) which are always discarded because they cannot form a healthy pregnancy, Euploid (normal) which are kept and Mosaic which are kept but are a bit more complicated so you would have to chat through the level of mosaic and whether it’s useable with your doctor.
- Biopsy for testing is done from full blastocysts (day 5 or 6) so the cells taken are from what will form the placenta and does not harm the embryo in any way.
I understand completely the worry when you don’t produce a lot of embryos. I managed to get 3 on my last cycle and we decided to test as it was my fourth fresh cycle with two bfns and one mc behind us, I didn’t want to keep throwing embryos in there and hoping for the best. The pregnancy rate is much better and the miscarriage rate is lower for PGS normal (euploid) embryos. I’m 14 weeks pregnancy from my first PGS transfer.
Hope that helps in some way xxx
Hiya.thank you that is helpful.do they have to get sent away I assume?I am in Bristol and my clinic don't do it there I think they would have to be sent away.I'd be so petrified something may happen to them in transit or get lost lol.I was about to do 5th round and it got cancelled due to virus.never even managed to get pregnant.we have had karyotyping done which was clear so does that make any difference?that would be sad to discard the embryos but I understand if they won't work.
Do you have a link or anything to the evidence that the pregnancy rate is higher? Just because I'd be interested to read that as I've heard that the PGS testing is controversial and that it doesn't improve success rates although again I think I did see that it might improve success rates in older women there's such conflicting info out there.feel free to perhaps message me instead if you like as I don'twant to hijack the feed.lol.thank you for your help and computations.I dream of that being me one day.were you on extra medication or anything?x
Hi Flora,
I don’t think any clinic does them on site but they do biopsy them (take the sample) at your clinic so they don’t actually send the embryos anywhere, just the sample for testing!
No extra medication due to PGS. My clinic went through their numbers with me for PGS tested embryos and I was given a pregnancy rate of 70% with this for my age group (I’m 34) so you’d probably need to discuss that with your clinic. I can’t remember the figure but I was also told it significantly reduces the chance of miscarriage as the majority of those are due to a chromosome issue xx
I see that's good to know that they don't send the whole embryo away just the cells I didn't realise that thanks that does make me feel better. Silly question but how do they know for sure that abnormal one won't make a baby? I assume they got loads of evidence on this?
Abnormal ones mean they have too few or too many of one or more sets of chromosomes, this means they cannot make a viable pregnancy and will likely miscarry. You do not want to put an abnormal embryo in, even if you get a BFP, you will likely MC in the weeks following. If you don’t MC, it’s likely the baby will have something wrong with them which will come up in later scans in the pregnancy.
When you don’t have PGS, the clinic makes a decision which embryo to transfer based on the grading system, but they grading system is not perfect, it’s a visual analysis. You can send off a 4AA and a 4BC for PGS and find out the lower grade one is normal and the higher grade one is not. PGS takes away the guessing and gives you the best chance of pregnancy and reduces the risk of MC.
Takes chance of pregnancy from 30-35% to 65-70%.
Also reduces risk of MC from 30-40% to 5-10%z
I’m sure you know, but the biggest reason for mc is the viability of the embryo. I would really recommend PGS testing.
I found this article helpful carolinaconceptions.com/how...
We had two miscarriages before we decided to go down the IVF path exactly a year ago. I was 38 years old and we had unexplained infertility and had no problems falling pregnant but we kept losing them. I wanted to rule out chromosomal abnormalities so IVF with PGS made sense.
We did our one and only retrieval before Easter last year and got 9 blastocysts and out of those 6 came back normal. We were thrilled. I think my clinic charged £450 per blastocyst to test plus time lapse and a few other things like storage etc but we didn't know if we'd get 20 or none and obviously the more the better albeit more expensive.
I thought we'd be home free having PGS normal blastocyst so when my first FET resulted in a chemical pregnancy in August I was blindsided and devastated. There was no obvious reason and I don't believe in "bad luck"
My Dr said often you need to adjust the timing of progesterone slightly so we should do an ERA/Alice/Emma biopsy and Hysteroscopy and he also sent me for a rarer blood clotting tests (all the other blood clotting issues came back normal) which was called TEG and pai-1 at St Mary's hospital with Dr Raj Raj.
The ERA came back that we did need to adjust the timing of transfer by 12 extra hours of progesterone prior to transfer and I also needed clexane because I did have the rarer blood clotting issue. I also needed vaginal probiotics to increase the good bacteria.
We did our second fet in November using the ERA biopsy results and clexane and we are now 21 weeks pregnant!
I really recommend doing the pgs, ERA and pai-1 before transferring anymore embryos. No point experimenting just get the tests done so you can eliminate those reasons.
It was such a relief going to the 12 and 20 weeks scans knowing we'd pass because our embryo was pgs normal. I know it doesn't test for every occurrence but it eliminates so many. The thought of having to find out at 12 or even 20 weeks bad news is beyond thinking about and for the sake of £450+ it is worth every penny in my mind.
I hope this helps and best of luck
Xx
• in reply toFingerscrossed38
Hey congratulations on your pregnancy how ms losses did you have before you had done all these steps? Xx
Fingerscrossed38• in reply to
I discovered I'd had a mmc at my 12 week scan with my first natural pregnancy.
Then I had an early miscarriage for my second natural pregnancy
Then I decided to do IVF with PGS testing only as we had unexplained infertility and all results always came back normal.
I had my third early miscarriage after our first IVF pgs normal FET.
That was when I did the ERA/Alice/Emma, Hysteroscopy and got tested for the rarer blood clotting pai-1. Both of these came back with changes I needed to make on my next FET.
My fourth and current pregnancy was with IVF PGS using clexane and intralipids.
Everyone is different and unfortunately it's often a process of elimination to find the right protocol for you. For me it was a combination of:
PGS testing
ERA/Emma/Alice
Hysteroscopy (nothing was found but important to know this)
Intralipids
Prontogest (progesterone in oil, Lubion did not work for me)
Clexane (blood thinner that was really important for me)
Hope this helps.
• in reply toFingerscrossed38
Many*
9 blastocyst that is amazing I never produce that many I'm 37 AMH of 5.8 the best amount of eggs I've got is 3 blastocyst which was still brilliant for us as in two previous Cycles to this we got to day 5 but they weren't quite blastocysts so the fact we got to that stage was amazing for us.
Can I message you privately? Got loads of questions?lol
Sure. I hope I can help xx
I 💯 recommend PGS, for reducing worry and risk factors and improving chances of pregnancy.
I have done PGS with two clinics (as my Dr. moved clinics!)
First clinic used the CooperGenomics lab and we sent three embryos for biopsy with the following grades and results.
4AB normal (euploid)
4BC abnormal (aneuploid)
4CC mosaic
Biopsy fee £950
PGS per embryo £400
=£2150
The next clinic used igenomix as their lab and we sent two embryos for biopsy with the following grades and results.
6AB normal
6BB normal
Biopsy fee £950
PGS per embryo £500
=£1950
We transferred the 6AB in Feb and I’m currently 8 weeks + 5 days pregnant.
Hope this helps!
did any of you lovely ladies who had the pgs testing also go down the route of getting tested for killer cells??? Im not sure whether I should test for this first before thinking of pgs testing??but it is all so expensive just wondered what your thoughts were on this considering ive never even managed to get pregnant I don't know which would be more important or valuable to do???? any thoughts. thank you this thread has been so helpful 
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