PGS Testing

Knottie36622473

How many ladies doing IVF this summer or fall are planning on doing PGS testing? I'm hearing that it's the future of IVF and eventually it will be standard. One doctor I consulted with said that the clinics that do more PGS have the higher live birth stats. That in actuality there are not that many protocols. I know some people also say "lab quality", but this doctor was firm that most labs are pretty standard now and that the big difference between mediocre IVF clinics and the best IVF clinics is the rate they are doing PGS. I start my 1st IVF cycle in July and I'm trying to decide if I want to do it or not. Any thoughts?

cmm012

I did PGS testing on my embryos.  Out of 7, three came back normal, 3 abnormal, and 1 inconclusive.  If I end up getting pregnant without miscarrying, then it would have been worth it.  The cost of an FET at my clinic is about the same as the PGS testing, so economically it made sense.

caseyw8784

We will be doing PGD (testing for a specific disorder rather than just checking for the right number of chromosomes.) If we didn't have the disorder factor, I would be tempted to do PGS, depending on the costs. With my age, I would think my RE would say that it's not needed, but the peace of mind knowing that it's more likely viable would be a big perk. 

sleepyrn

We didn't do it because we figure in nature you don't get to test ahead of time, plus I didn't want to wait the extra month for transfer.   Just a personal choice.  If this one doesn't work or the next, maybe we'll do it then.

Stairbear

I haven't introduced myself on this board yet (I've been an occasional lurker), but I did my first retrieval this morning, and we're doing PGS. They said we'll see how many have fertilized tomorrow, PGS is Friday, and if there is a chromosomally normal embryo, transfer js Sunday. So PGS doesn't mean you can't do a fresh transfer.

P.S. (Trigger warning) I am 39, have one child conceived naturally, and had a loss this winter after getting pregnant on a natural-cycle IUI.

Knottie36622473

@Stairbear @cmm012 please keep me posted via this thread on your results! I'm very interested! 

wifeinraleigh28

We are doing PGS testing.  It's standard practice at my clinic (unless you decide you want to save money and skip it) and is recommended for everyone.  My clinic only does FETs when they do PGS, as the results take 8-10 days to come back.  Much too late to do a fresh transfer since the embryos need to be frozen as blasts on day 5.  We're looking at a July ER + PGS testing, and FET in August.

Stairbear

Hi. Thanks for your interest. They got 9 eggs at the retrieval. The doctor just called and said that of those 9, 7 were mature. And of the 7 mature ones, 4 fertilized. He said he likes to see a 2/3 fertilization rate, but he says the ones that didn't fertilize were likely "bad eggs," so they were weeded out early in the process. He hopes all 4 embryos make it to Friday,  which is when they do the biopsies and courier the biopsied cells to the lab for PGS testing. Then we'll know how many of the four are genetically normal, and we'll do a fresh transfer of 1 on Sunday, and (assuming there are leftover genetically sounds embryos) freeze the rest.  

I'm trying to stay positive but I must admit I am disappointed that there are only four embryos at this relatively early stage. 

Knottie36622473

@Stairbear I had a friend that only had about that many retrieved and fertilized at CCRM and all 4 became blasts I believe. One ended up being pgs normal. She got pregnant, but unfortunately miscarried. She has since done immune testing, which did come back positive. Stay positive! It's quality not quantity and you could have 4 beautiful blasts! I know it's easier said then done. This whole journey consumes you. I feel like on so many levels I've stopped living because all I do is pass time while I'm waiting for the next part of the process to start.

@wifeinraleigh28 I'm on BC too! I start Lupron July 2nd and stims July 9th. Retrieval is scheduled for July 22nd if all goes as planned. I have to decide pgs or no pgs by the time I start stims. 

kfras

DH and I opted out of the PGS due to cost. I had the same mindset that if we were able to conceive naturally we wouldn't know either. But after reading all of these posts with couples only have one or two come back as normal - that is starting to worry me. I am wondering if I made the wrong choice. 

cmm012

I read a research article a few weeks ago about PGS testing, and how it can be harmful for couples who have a small number of embryos to choose from. The clinic allowed couples with no PGS normal embryos to transfer embryos with fatal abnormalities. If I'm remembering correctly, 5 babies were born who were designated abnormal through PGS. I'll try to find the link.  Anyway, the point of the article was that PGS should be used if you have several embryos to choose from. Otherwise it could hurt your chances of pregnancy.

Knottie36622473

@cmm012 did you have to commit to pgs before stims? I just feel like I'd only want to do pgs if I got at least 6 to 8 embryos. They want me to commit and pay in full before stims. I feel like there should be an option where you can decide on day 5. I have an AMH of 2.29 and AFC of 20...but this is my first IVF and I don't know how I will respond.

@kfras when do you transfer? That's the mindset I kinda have too.

BornReady

@Knottie36622473 I had to commit to PGS before starting stims. It was a bit of a process because we had to have a phone call with the company doing the testing for informed consent, sign all of our consents and then sign more consents for our clinic. We had to pay a fee of $2950 up front which covered the cost of 7-8 embryos to be tested and will pay more of less (be reimbursed) depending on how many we have at day 5. 

Edit: correct price

kfras

@Knottie36622473 my retrieval is tentatively scheduled for June 21 and then I am assuming transfer will be five days later. We are doing a fresh transfer not frozen. I think we also would have had to decide prior to starting stims because we paid for everything already but I'm not sure. At this point I think changing our mind would delay everything so we are sticking to the original plan of no PGS. Just worries me. Our dr was pro PGS because my husband is XXY which is contributing to our male factor infertility. Dr said that this way we would see if any of the embryos also were xxy. However, every article I read stated that it is not hereditary and it is random so we didn't feel like there would be a bigger chance that our child would be XXY. 

@BornReady that is crazy that you will have to pay for each embryo tested. Our cost would have been 2000 and there was nothing stating that it only covered a specific number of embryos. 

BornReady

@kfras amazing how much variation there is, isn't there? I underestimated our cost, here is the exact cost breakdown for our lab.

Knottie36622473

@kfras $2000 is a steal! I have to pay my clinic $2400 to biopsy and the lab $2400 to test.

@BornReady when is transfer?!

keep me posted ladies!

cmm012

@Knottie36622473 We had to provide a credit card number that would be charged once the embryos were biopsied and the cells sent off to the lab. I think we could have changed our minds on the testing up to the day of biopsy and we would not be charged. We paid about $4000 for testing.

mjacks16

My clinic will do a biopsy on a day 3 and can get the results back for a day 5 fresh transfer.  It just depends on the relationship with the clinic. I do remember signing forms for it beforehand, but we could have cancelled and almost did because I only had two to test. We were considering banking them to get more and test, but I did not want to wait.  Good call, because they both came back normal! We did end up having them biopsied on day 5 and freeze due to OHSS.