PGT helps patients become parents

In January, 2019, 41 of our patients out of 49 embryo transfers got pregnant?  Why were they so successful?  The answer is PGT or preimplantation genetic testing.

Dominion Fertility utilizes PGT on almost all of our embryos and any patient undergoing IVF can utilize PGT to further enhance their chances for pregnancy.

Simply put, IVF with PGT allows doctors to learn about the embryo’s genetics before it is transferred to the uterus and the most common cause of IVF failure is embryo aneuploidy-abnormal genetics.  PGT sorts out the genetically normal embryos with 99% accuracy and this allows us to transfer a single embryo, generally resulting in over a 50% live birth rate per transfer across all age groups.

PGT actually accelerates the time to pregnancy, so most of our patients are successfully pregnant within their first or second transfer after a single oocyte retrieval.  Since only one embryo is transferred, the twin rate is reduced to 1%.

So how does PGT work, exactly?  A few cells are removed from the outer layer of the embryo called the trophectoderm – this is called an embryo biopsy which is safe and far from the inner cell mass where the baby develops.  The cells are tested in the genetic lab and the chromosomes are counted.  The embryo is then determined to be genetically normal or abnormal.  The normal embryos are frozen and safely stored in our laboratory for later transfer, one embryo at a time.

Dominion Fertility performs PGT on over 3,000 embryos a year.  We are fortunate to have experienced and highly skilled embryologists that regularly perform PGT and experience matters with PGT.

PGT is cost effective.  Several recent studies have now shown PGT actually decreases the cost of IVF because the time to pregnancy is decreased with most patients achieving success within their first or second embryo transfer.  IVF with PGT also results in fewer miscarriages as embryo aneuploidy is the most common cause for miscarriage.

Dominion Fertility is now exploring performing PGT using embryo culture media.  It is hoped that we can ultimately make PGT a Reproductive standard as we continue to stay on the cutting edge of Reproductive Medicine.

Dr. Michael Mattina Founder and Medical Director at Dominion Fertility