PGD

Couples can determine the health and gender of their next baby to help with family planning, environmental, genetic and psychological issues. In addition to this a healthy baby, couples are now able to determine the gender before implantation. PGD (preimplantation genetic diaganosis) can be used for health screening, gender selection or a combination of both.

PGD Screening with a 99% Success Rate

All over the world new technologies emerge in IVF treatment, and with these new technologies, comes up-to-date techniques that are used to help couples have healthy babies. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is one of these latest techniques, in which embryos with a genetically damaged structure or genetic abnormalities are identified even before implantation.

With this comprehensive genetic analysis, couples are able to carry out the pregnancy with ease knowing the sex and genetic health of the baby they plan to have.

If the mother or father has inherited genetic diseases there can be an abnormal genetic structure in the embryo createds, there may not be a chance of carrying the baby to term after the embryo is transferred, or worse, the baby could develop serious health problems. PGD is especially recommended in couples who have a genetic problem in the family, who are married to relatives, who have suffered recurrent miscarriage or who have previously had babies with chromosomal defects.

This method, which has recently also been performed to determine gender, is a genetic diagnostic performed in the laboratory environment.Therefore it is necessary for couples to undergo IVF treatment even if they have naturally concieved children before.

With Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, it is possible to detect:

  • gender of the baby, especially where inherited diseases related to the sex chromosome is present
  • common chromosome anomalies such as Down Syndrome, Turner Syndrome etc.
  • single gene disorders such as Cystic fibrosis, Thalasemmia, Muscular Dystrophia, Sickle Cell Anemia etc. (advanced screening required)

As Miracle IVF Centre by Dr. Firdevs, we do PGD treatments with 99% (%1 error rate) certainty.

PGD Treatment Stages

  1. The PGD treatment process starts with detailed tests performed on the mother and father who will be treated at Miracle IVF Centre by Dr. Firdevs.

  2. On the 2nd or 3rd day of mother’s menstural period, preparation of the mother's follicles for the treatment starts. This egg development process can be carried out in the city where the couple live. During this stage, the mother's eggs are developed using several injections. Injection usage is 10-12 days approximately. These injections only provide follicle development during that period. They have no affect as extra weight gain or disrupting the menstrual cycle.

  3. The egg development process ends with a single injection called a trigger injection. This injection makes the developing eggs ready for the egg processing.

  4. At this stage, approximately 36 hours after the trigger injection, all the follicles formed are collected by our IVF specialist Gyn. Op. Dr. Firdevs Uğuz Tip. As the egg collection process is performed under a very low dose of anesthesia, the mother does not feel any pain or discomfort. This process takes only 10-15 minutes, according to the number of eggs. After the procedure, the mother immediately recovers and can contnue her daily life.

  5. Within the same hour of egg collection, sperm is taken from the father and the best sperm cells are selected by our embryologists under a special microscope. With selected sperm cells, the mature egg cells of the mother are fertilized directly by ICSI - a microinjection method.

  6. After fertilisation, the embryos are left to develop within our special incubators for 3 days. Embryos may undergo this process in a table-top incubator or in the Embryoscope incubator, depending on the preference of the couple.

  7. On the 3rd day after fertilisation, single-cell biopsies are taken from developed embryos and PGD procedures are applied to the taken cells.

  8. After receiving the genetic results, the best quality, healthy embryos are transferred to the mother's womb on the 5th day after fertilisation. Embryo transfer process, guided by ultrasound, is a painless process. It lasts only 5-10 minutes and the mother is fully awake and able to follow the transfer of her babies into the her womb.

In which cases should PGD should be considered?

  • Genetic disorders related to the sex of the baby.
  • Sex selection before pregnancy especially due to medical issues.
  • In couples with chromosomal disorders that can be inherited to the baby
  • If a baby was born with a chromosomal abnormality before, then it is possible to have a baby with syndrome again.
  • Women who want to be a mother after the age of 35.
  • Genetic disease carriers.
  • In women over 35 years of age, if they fear having an amniocentesis.

PGS | Next Generation Sequencing

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a new technology for genetic testing procedures that can increase the percentages of live births. At Miracle IVF Centre by Dr. Firdevs, we\'re proud to bring this latest technology of DNA sequencing.

IVF treatments are based on successfull treatments with the transfer of developed embryos, resulting with a live and healthy baby. In IVF treatments many technologies are used for genetic diagnostics such as PGD, FISH, AcGH etc. The most commonly used genetic testing method is PGD as couples usually wish to determine their future baby's gender along with screening out common genetic disorders.

Differences between PGD and NGS

The main difference between PGD and NGS is that in Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) on the 3rd day after fertilisation, biopsies are taken from the embryos (when they are 8-Cells) and 5 chromosomes, including the sex chromosomes are examined. In Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), the biopsy is taken on the 5th day after fertilisation (trofoctoderm biopsy from blastocyst embryos) and all of the 23 chromosomes are examined.

The other main difference is the time period. In PGD, the results of the genetic method can be obtained in 2 days, couples only need to come to Cyprus once and the entire treatment process can be completed from egg collection to embryo transfer in 6 days. With NGS, genetic screening takes quite a long time, couples will need to come to Cyprus twice. Firstly, for the egg collection and fertilisation, secondly for the embryo transfer process of healthy embryos. In NGS, the time period between egg collection and embryo transfer is approximately 2 months.


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