Should I be considering genetic testing?

carrieharry79

So I'm doing my first IVF in November and a friend of mine said that if you do genetic testing, they will use the best sperm available during ICSI. She has had IVF 4 times, so she pays extra to do this. My doctor didn't tell me anything about this... should I ask? Is it something people consider for first IVF?

Thanks! There is so much to learn!

Sha259

You and your partner can be genetically screened before your cycle, to determine if you are carriers of any traits that can be detrimental to reproduction. You can also perform genetic testing on any embryos that form during your IVF cycle.

DH and I did not do either. (I had been previously genetically screened for other reasons, but it covered all the typically screened traits). And we have now experienced a M/C after or first full IVF cycle. 

In hindsight, do I wish I had done genetic testing on myself and DH? Yes, DH especially. At least I think I would feel less guilt after this recent m/c, if this was something that maybe could have been prevented.

Do I wish I had had CCS/PGD done on our embryos? Still on the fence with this one. According to our RE, our age and absence of previous m/c led him to believe it was of little value. Also, our embies are already frozen, and trying to thaw them to perform screening has it's own risks.

Now if we continue to experience m/c with the remainder of our embryos, I think we will both likely change our minds.

carrieharry79

Thank you both for the advice and information. I was tested for CF and I was negative, but that is all that we were checked for. I am going to talk to my doctor about it and see if it even makes sense. Do you know how much it adds to the pricetag? IFinTN

Twinkie0612

Your friend is probably talking about some form of PGS (Preimplantation Genetic Screening), which basically makes sure that your embryos have the right number of chromosomes. I believe at my clinic it would cost $1500-$2000 for the biopsy and shipping of the sample and then you would still have to pay the lab that does the testing (another few thousand dollars I believe).

gnl42

For me, it was 5k for up to 8 embryos and then something like $500 for each additional.

It is not standard of care and most REs would not recommend it unless you were over 35 and/or had a hx of miscarriages. The experts are not united in their views on testing. There are a lot of pros and cons, so you should talk to your RE. I also think it really depends on how you personally look at things - risks of miscarriage or chromosomal abnormality, amount of time to get pregnant, risk of losing normal embryos, limitations of testing, finances. There is a lot to consider. 

That being said, I wish I had done it after my retrieval. I ended up deciding to do it later on already frozen embryos, which added additional stress. 

katers79

We're doing PGD due to a chromosomal abnormality discovered when RE was trying to figure out DH's low count. We were told that without it, I would lose any male embryos that also have the abnormality (females are not at risk, but "some" male are) at "some point" in the pregnancy. We didn't want to go thru the whole process to miscarry, and wonder "what if" we could have prevented it.

It's considered "elective" by our insurance. We appealed, and are waiting on the determination, but at this point it's all OOP. The probe that was made for us was $250, and the testing of up to 8 embryos is $3000.

Bonus- we can pick which gender to transfer later on not sure if we'll make that choice yet or not, depends on the final # of viable embryos and how many are male/female. May be nice to have that surprise later.

Lc102310

I had IVF w/PGD because I know I am a carrier for a genetic disease.  The cost of the PGD testing and to create the probe was $7900. That is just for PGD, the IVF cost is separate.

Good Luck in your decision.

L

carrieharry79

Thank you all! I called my clinic and they said that because I am not a known carrier of any genetic diseases (I was just tested for CF that I know of) and this is my first IVF cycle, they don't recommend or even offer it.

It's a decision I guess I don't have to make right now. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that all goes well in November and I don't have to think about it again!