Can PGD improve the chances of a successful IVF?

While making embryos in the IVF lab at Malpani Fertility Clinic, we aim at transferring a single embryo of a good quality to the recipient’s uterus which may then implant and develop into a healthy baby. However, our expertise at pinpointing which embryo will develop into a baby is limited. We evaluate embryo quality based on their microscopic appearance. Features such as any fragments of the embryo, the equality of the cells, the cell division rate etc. are examined.  Malpani Fertility Clinic then singles out the embryo that appears best and performs the transfer with this top quality embryo. But even this embryo is likely to be genetically abnormal as its appearance cannot guarantee a normal chromosomal make up.

To solve this problem, Malpani Fertilty Clinic carries out Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). The embryo is biopsied and a few cells removed. We check the chromosome copy number of these cells using Comprehensive Chromosome Screening (CCS) . This technique has great potential as it allows us to select genetically normal embryos. It can improve IVF success rates as they have better odds for implantation than genetically abnormal embryos. Learn more about PGD at http://blog.drmalpani.com/2012/09/should-we-be-doing-pgd-for-everyone.html