Preimplantation Genetic Screening Pros and Cons, PGS Testing and Cost
What is PGS? What are the prime preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons? How does the analysis should be conducted to obtain the best outcome? Well, each patient who has difficulties with natural conceiving endeavors to weed out a mass of stressful questions regarding successful in vitro fertilization, the health of the future child, choosing dedicated specialists, whatever. Therefore, we will provide all the ins and outs to help prospective parents take a bird’s eye view of the preimplantation genetic screening and its essentials.
Preimplantation Genetic Screening Pros and Cons – Your Knowledge Base
So, you’ve carefully considered all your thoughts and finally decided to apply for in vitro fertilization program. But how can you be sure that nothing else will stand between you and your dream to have a desired baby? Well, as there are many reasons why men and women have infertility, IVF has specific requirements and flows differently in any particular case. Nevertheless, you can go through PGS to minimize all the risks and maximize the chances of giving birth to a healthy child. That is why, in this article, we will emphasize preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons for your convenience. So, you could decide whether this kind of genetic testing is appropriate for you.
Historical Facts
Before dividing the preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons, it is necessary to learn how this method paved the way for contemporary medicine. For instance, the idea of PGS came up even earlier than the first child from in vitro fertilization has been born. In fact, people consider the 1980s to be the beginning of PGS development.
Interestingly, preimplantation genetic screening or aneuploidy screening was used not only for chromosomal abnormalities detection but also for gender selection. The last one is required when some hereditary diseases may occur due to the specific sex of the future child. And the first successful attempt concerning gender selection took place in 1989. Meanwhile, in 1990, scientists performed monogenic disease detection before the actual process of conception.
What Does the Preimplantation Genetic Screening Test for? – PGS Meaning and Necessity
We would like to clarify for you the term and importance of this process before starting with preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons. First of all, you should understand that one of the primary reasons for failed IVF, suddenly-interrupted pregnancies, and birthing disabled children is the embryo’s aneuploidy or chromosome abnormalities.
That is why it is vital to check all possible pathologies before transferring embryos to the uterine cavity. The technology of PGS aims to a detailed embryo examination which will help to select only the finest ones for further embryo transfer. Applying for preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), you become much closer to your dream of having a stress-free pregnancy and being a happy parent of a healthy child. Thanks to this medical testing, hundreds of couples worldwide celebrate the beginning of the parenthood every day.
Main Mission of PGS
Well, the more detailed the embryo’s examination is, the more prospects you have to experience a prosperous pregnancy. Here the chief mission of PGS is to assure you give birth to a healthy child. Although there are preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons, this method of genetic testing is a precious one as it:
- requires to transfer only the healthiest embryo which means a diminished amount of multiple pregnancies;
- lowers the number of abortions and decreases any possible complications during the pregnancy;
- cuts the number of expected cycles, minimizes financial costs, and reduces the period of medical treatment;
- provides patients with comprehensive data which helps them to decide whether they want to go to another IVF cycle or stop the program and use donor eggs.
Who Needs Preimplantation Genetic Screening IVF?
As you know, there is a variety of IVF programs. However, none of them includes the cost of preimplantation genetic screening. Specialists provide this procedure separately, and it is not obligatory to go through it. Nevertheless, to protect you from any possible failure, medical professionals highly-recommend to test the embryos considering the preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons. And it doesn’t matter which in vitro fertilization program you select.
Well, the compulsory reasons to apply for a PGS are as follows:
- break down IVF cycles in the past (2 and more);
- pregnancy miscarriage;
- birth of previous children with hereditary and chromosomal diseases;
- presence of hereditary diseases among family members;
- women of advanced maternal age;
- abnormalities in spermatogenesis.
How Specialists Perform Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS)?
Lots of people debate on preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons having no idea on how professionals conduct it. Well, first of all, experts retrieve the eggs and fertilize them to form the embryo. When the embryo enters the blastocyst stage, specialists perform the biopsy and then send it to the genetic screening. In fact, the medical team uses all 23 pairs of chromosomes for the complete PGS analysis. Doing this way, they exclude any possible infringements of the entire number of chromosomes. It is essential to prevent miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy.
Preimplantation Genetic Screening Pros and Cons – What to Expect?
Revealing all the details about PGS, we also want to showcase the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of genetic analysis. Nevertheless, keep in mind that preimplantation genetic screening is specific in different cases. It is only up to you, and no one will make you perform this test unless you find it useful for yourself.
Main Pros
Well, the main advantage of PGS is that it requires to check the embryo’s abnormalities before the actual pregnancy. Meanwhile, other methods of genetic analysis allow detecting the pathology in fact only, which then causes abortions. Unfortunately, there are situations when it is impossible to get embryos without any genetical failures. Here preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is also helpful as it allows specialists to bring out the issue beforehand. So, potential parents can decide whether they prefer using donor eggs or refuse the IVF program and look for adoption opportunities.
Moreover, when it comes to preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons, we surely need to mention that PGS raises your chances to have a successful pregnancy via the in vitro fertilization. In fact, the success rate is almost the same for women under and over 40 years old. The main thing here for doctors is to get the embryo with a normal karyotype.
Main Cons
First of all, the process of PGS is a time-consuming one. It can take more than four weeks to provide you with the results. Additionally, the embryo destruction may occur during the PGS analysis. How may this happen? Well, as we mentioned above, preimplantation genetic screening allows the biopsy process which can stop further growth of the embryo. So, one will not be able to perform a sustainable pregnancy. Despite the fact that the percentage of embryo damage is low, (approximately less than 1%), patients need to know it before getting started with the preimplantation genetic screening. It is also essential to notice that medical testing isn’t perfect. Hence, even being innovative, the genetic analysis still can’t guarantee you a 100% result.
So, now you know preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons and can make an informed decision concerning the PGS analysis. What else may be useful for you regarding the PGS testing pros and cons? Let’s find out.
Preimplantation Genetic Screening for Gender Selection
As far as PGS aims to reduce all possible risks of giving birth to a baby with genetic abnormalities, it is also in-use when it comes to particular hereditary diseases. How? Well, specialists also perform preimplantation genetic screening for gender selection. It means that if any diseases connected with gender take place in your family, you can prevent influencing them on your future child by discovering the one’s sex in advance.
Pro or Con?
The thing is that during the process of PGS, specialists receive necessary material which helps them to identify the embryo’s gender. And as for the IVF doctors use several cells for fertilization, potential parents can then decide what gender their child will have among all possible suggestions. As professionals pay attention only to the genetic data instead of ultrasound, the accuracy of PGS here is very high. However, when potential parents discard the embryo, it causes a sharp ethical question among the whole medical community. Thus, determining preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons, we can say that it is complicated to put gender selection specifically to the pros or cons section.
Preimplantation Genetic Screening Pros and Cons – Cost of PGS
The price for preimplantation genetic screening is diverse. Many centers can provide you with the receipt which includes the costs for in vitro fertilization program and PGS. Meanwhile, others can offer you to pay for it separately. Nevertheless, you should realize that genetic testing is always pretty expensive because of a complex process of its conduction. So, think through all the suggestions carefully not to buy a pig in a poke. You should opt for the analysis of the best quality that certainly will turn your dream of having a healthy baby into reality.
Acknowledged professionals at Sunshine work only with verified and certified PGS experts and so can guarantee you the quality of the service they provide. If you have already decided on PGS after exploring preimplantation genetic screening pros and cons in this post, you are very welcome to request a consultation for further details discussion. Bear in mind, that we are always by your side to fulfill your dream!