Karyotype blood test

[Bd24]

Hi all,

We have sadly just had a second unsuccessful round of ivf. Our consultant has recommended I have a karyotype blood test to rule out any genetic abnormalities contributing to poor embryo quality. It is quite an expensive test to do through our clinic and I was wondering if anyone has done this through the NHS? Just trying to weigh up whether it’s worth going ahead with, alongside the cost of another round.

Thanks 🙂

[Skittles11]

Hi

My understanding is you would only be eligible for this test on NHS if you had a suspected genetic issue that the NHS were investigating. If the issue is two implantation failures via IVF, as painful as it is to go through it is quite normal for it to take a few goes and I don't think the NHS would support unless there were other issues at play. For example, I was eligible for NHS karyotype but this was because the baby I was carrying was diagnosed with Trisomy 18. You could PGTA tests embryos as an alternative but this is also high cost, the expense of IVF and the add on's is significant I know

[Cous]

Hi, I’ve been under NHS ‘recurrent miscarriage’ care, I asked if I could have a karyotype test as I’ve had very poor embryo quality/embryo divisions over four rounds of IVF.

I’ve had three miscarriages (two using my eggs, and one my partners), and the nhs said they would not give me the karyotype test unless I’d had three miscarriages using my own eggs.

So from my experience, they’d be unlikely to test you, unless there were other reasons for a genetic issue they were looking into..

Although it is always worth asking!

Wishing you lots of luck going forwards!

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely,

As Skittles says I don't think the NHS will provide it unless the is reason to.

We had it done privately as we were doing PGT-A testing and they required it to be done first.

xx

[GranolaHippo]

Ditto here. My NHS trust will only offer if they have tested tissue from a miscarriage (which they'll only do on your third miscarriage onwards) and they've found a chromosomal anomaly in the foetal tissue sample.

So wouldn't for IVF failure.

From what I know of testing for recurrent miscarriage, after 2 is quite early, as there are lots of reasons it can happen and chromosomal anomalies in parents that are repeatedly being passed on is not a common one.

That said, we had it after 4 miscarriages (all naturally conceived) and found it reassuring.

Would you not consider PGT-A first? That would give you info about the embryos you're directly using, picking up by chance chromosomal anomalies and, if they all had the same, would suggest karyotyping of you and your partner would be if benefit. Might be worth asking clinic about that or transferring to a clinic that can test if your current one cannot.

[GranolaHippo in reply to GranolaHippo]

Just to say, if you do go down the PGT-A route, it is worth asking what a clinic's policy on mosaic embryos is, as these are potentially viable, and also survivable trisomies such as Down Syndrome, depending on what your personality views are.

Make sure there is alignment between what you'd want to do and what the clinic's policies are, to ensure you don't end up having to do something (discard embryos you'd want to try using) that you wouldn't want to.

I also think, from our experience, costs are comparable. It was about £1K for us both to have karyotyping in 2022 and was £1,200 for PGT-A for 4 embryos in April of this year.