Great News for BRCA positive patients using IVF/PGD

The Scientific Congress of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine released news that included several studies on IVF outcomes for BRCA-positive patients.

“BRCA patients will be able to have offspring unaffected by this mutation by utilizing preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).”

The news is positive. BRCA patients will be able to have offspring unaffected by this mutation by utilizing preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Though many patients with BRCA mutation are not struggling with infertility at all, they still would like to utilize IVF and PGD in an effort to prevent their children from having the same mutation. Now we have scientific evidence that suggests women with BRCA mutation have an excellent chance of having children, while avoiding transmission of the BRCA gene to those children.

“Currently, for BRCA-positive patients who are concerned about transferring this mutation to their children, IVF/PGD is a great option.”

At Dominion Fertility, we have been offering our patients preimplantation genetic studies on all embryos, prior to transfer, for a long time. Screening embryos for normal chromosome structure and transferring only euploid embryos has resulted in greatly increased live birth rates at our center. The same technology is being utilized for detection of a single gene mutation, such as BRCA. Currently, for BRCA-positive patients who are concerned about transferring this mutation to their children, IVF/PGD is a great option.

- Dr. Kay Waud, M.D. PhD