PGD - your thoughts, please

My DH and I are sitting on the fence. We don't have any known issues, but our RE posed PGD as an option because of advanced maternal age (I'm 37).

I've been reading tons of research on my own, but each report seems to conflict with the next. I'm concerned about long-term damage as a result of removing a cell from the embryo. There haven't been any longitudinal studies, so no one can tell me anything about children who are the result of PGD. All I have been told is that they're "healthy babies."

I'm concerned about the effects as the child matures. I also worry about the loss of embryos as a result of waiting until day 5 (PGD automatically requires a 5 day transfer because the test is performed after day 3).

Our reason for considering it is the risk of abnormality associated with my age. Obviously, we'd perform an amnio if we don't have PGD done, but then we're faced with a terrible decision to make at 16 weeks.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. DH and I have talked so much and keep going in circles.

ETA: DH is having TESE b/c of zero sperm present (failed reversal) and that means ICSI is required.

Message edited 2/23/2012 7:46:40 PM.

Re: PGD - your thoughts, please

Do you have other reasons for going that route besides your age? Have you had recurrent miscarriages? From what I understand (and my research is based on CGH, not PGD- PGD only tests certain chromosomes while CGH tests all of them.) it will lower your miscarriage rate but it will not increase your likelihood of getting pregnant.

I've read that what people often do is have a few fresh cycles so they can bank their embryos and then send the large batch out for testing so they dont risk losing eggs. I havent read about losing eggs due to damage from testing the sample, but losing them due to them being abnormal (I didnt really research the first part enough though). I also didnt read anything about long term effects but I would think that, if anything, it would help you to simply produce a healthy child.

Do you have any reason to believe you are a carrier for a chromosomal abnormality or have poor egg quality (besides your age)?

We decided that we will do CGH on my frosties if this cycle ends up in another miscarriage.

Re: PGD - your thoughts, please

I did PGD and had twin boys. we were testing for a known chromosomal mutation that is in my family that causes a certain disease.

on day three, the embryos are biopsied and a cell is removed to test. the cell that is removed is undifferentiated at the time of biopsy meaning that it hasn't been tagged as a brain cell or arm cell or heart cell. the thinking is that since its undifferentiated, the embryo doesn't really "miss" it at that point. the biopsied cell didn't really have a "job" yet.

i don't think there will be any long term effects of biopsy - cells die all the time. and, the breaking of the cell wall doesn't hurt the embryo bc the same kinda thing happens in identical twins - the cell wall divides in two and the cell wall is broken then.

my boys are 16 months old now and are amazing. they are actually above their age curve as far as communication, and complex tasks.

good luck with whatever you decide - i know how hard of a decision it can be.

Re: PGD - your thoughts, please

Thanks so much for your replies. It's meaningful to hear from people who've been in the same position.

I've never been pregnant and we don't have any known issues, it's really based upon my age and the increased risks.

Our decision changes several times daily. One minute, we're planning to do it and the next, we decide we won't. I hear so much about the positives, but people rarely discuss the negatives. Those are the things I think we need to hear/read about in order to feel that we're making a well-informed decision.

ETA: I am not familiar with CGH. We were told, during our consult with the geneticist, that PGD would test for all, whereas FISH does not test all. I'm even more confused now.

Message edited 2/23/2012 9:29:18 PM.

Re: PGD - your thoughts, please

If they are calling it PGD 24, then yes, it tests for everything. It's essentially the same process.