Trying to Conceive with Known Genetic Diseases
Fortunately, remarkable technological advances made it possible to screen for a variety of genetic disorders.
Preimplantation Genetic Testing provides our clients with the opportunity to create embryos using In Vitro Fertilization and subsequently screen them for specific genetic disorders of disease know to be present in your family’s gene pool.
How Does Preimplantation Genetic Testing Works?
During an IVF cycle, a woman takes several medications to stimulate egg growth. After reaching maturity, the eggs are removed from the ovaries by a doctor. The eggs are subsequently taken to the embryology lab, fertilized, and grown in the lab until they reach a blastocyst stage of development (usually 5-6 days). At that point, an embryologist in the laboratory will biopsy a group of placental cells (at the blastocyst stage, there are two main groups of cells – those that will become the baby and those that will become the placenta – taking the biopsy from the placental cell rarely damages the embryo).
After obtaining the biopsied tissue, the biopsied cells are sent to a genetics laboratory while the embryos are frozen to await the genetic testing results.
After receiving the results, the healthy embryos (those with no genetic mutations detected) can be thawed and transferred into the female’s uterus with a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET)
