PGD and PGS Benefits; Are they Necessary?

Sometimes couples are worried about their future children’s health if they have a genetic disorder themselves or in their families, because genetic abnormalities can be passed on to the children. In this case, they can take advantage of PGD and PGS benefits to ensure their future child would not have the same genetic disorders. You may wonder about how this technology can help preventing genetic disorders and is PGD/PGS necessary or not. In this article, we are going to explain about this technology which is used along with in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is designed to detect the DNA genetic disorders that are inherited to embryos by parents. PGD testing happens after the egg retrieval process and fertilization of the gametes. By doing this test, doctors discard the embryos containing abnormal DNA form and transfer only healthy embryos to the uterus for growing.  By examining the embryos, the risks of having an embryo suffering from the problematic genes decrease.

PGD is often recommended to those couples who have a history of a genetic disease in their family. They may be healthy and show no symptoms of diseases but they can pass them on to their children without knowing.  In the past, parents who were potential carriers of problematic genes chose adoption or embryo donation as a way of having a child or just decided to not have children at all. Today thanks to PGD and PGS benefits, they have this opportunity to have their own children without any genetic disorders.

Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS)

Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is similar to PGD in the way that it prevents future genetic disorders in the child. However, PGS does not evaluate every gene for specific abnormalities. It looks for any chromosomal abnormalities that may affect the embryo. A healthy cell should have 23 pairs of chromosome. Existence of more or less chromosome numbers shows a genetic abnormality which may cause miscarriage or failed IVF cycle.

By determining the abnormality in the chromosomes, PGS technology can help eliminate the effected embryos in order to have a healthy child. Abnormality in chromosomes increases in the old ages, so women in older ages can benefit from PGS technology. PGS can also determine the sex of the embryo which can be used by parents who want to select their child’s sex by their preference.

Who can use PGD/PGS?

Although PGD or PGS are supplementary steps of IVF process which can be costly, they well worth the money and time because of increasing the chance of a successful IVF cycle and reducing the risks of having children with genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis. If you have a previous child suffering from a genetic disease, you should do PGD for your next pregnancies. This technology can also be useful for women at the age of 35 or older because of the higher risk of chromosomal abnormality in the old ages.

 If you have had the experience of recurrent miscarriages or several failed reproductive treatments, undergoing IVF + PGD can extremely help have a normal pregnancy. But in general, everybody can take advantage of PGD technology.

PGD and PGS Benefits

One of the most important reasons that couples undergo PGD is decreasing the risk of inheriting genetic diseases to their child. Despite the benefits of this technology, it is better to be prepared for any outcome. It is possible that all of the embryos are identified as genetically flawed embryos and none of them be implanted into the uterus at the end. Although this could be heart-breaking but there can still be a chance to have a better plan for proceeding and have a healthy conception next time.

When IVF process is done by the use of PGD, the success rate is higher. Without PGD the success rate is about 50% while in the case of using IVF+PGD the success rate goes up to 70%. By the use of PGD process the medical issues of embryos are found and only healthy embryos are transferred to the uterus. This procedure highly increases the IVF cycle chance to work. This means that the patient probably needs to undergo only one cycle of IVF. By the use of PGD, you can even reassess your decision about proceeding with pregnancy, because the embryo is not implanted into the uterus at that point.

For those couples who have no genetic disorders, undergoing PGS is very useful in order to select the sex of their child. This process is also known as gender selection in lots of fertility clinics.

The Cost of PGD/ PGS testing

PGD or PGS are additional services of IVF which can sometimes cost a huge amount of money because this is a specialist laboratory procedure. PGD costs usually depends on the number of embryos that are analyzed. For over five embryos, we gathered the average cost of PGD for some of the most famous countries in the world:

• IVF+PGD cost in USA begins from about $20,000
• IVF+PGD cost in Thailand begins from about $12,500
• IVF+PGD cost in Malaysia begins from about $12,000
• IVF+PGD cost in the UK begins from about £9,000
• IVF+PGD cost in Spain begins from about €8,000
• IVF+PGD cost in Iran begins from about $4,500

 As you can see, PGD cost differs noticeably among different countries. In some countries the costs are too high for many couples to afford. The most important thing which you should consider when you want to choose your destination country is quality of the treatment besides the costs. Among the countries that provide IVF+PGD services, Iran is one of the best destinations where professional medical services are offered with the most affordable costs. At “TebMedTourism” healthcare facilitator, we are ready to give you more information about your further questions for free 24/7.

Author: Leila Nazari

Publisher and SEO specialist: Mohammad Reza Ranjbaran

About TebMedTourism company

TebMedTourism Company is an International healthcare facilitator based in Tehran, Iran.

We start our professional activity in medical tourism industry regarding the profound capability of Iran in both healthcare & touristic fields.

We are ready with open arms to provide desirable services to our dear patients & guests from all over the world to enjoy world-class treatment quality and highly skilled doctors in Iran.

TebMedTourism company is cooperating with more than 40 internationally certified hospitals, 140 selected local hospitals, 300 specialized medical centers, 430 doctors, 112 hotels, domestic and international airlines in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Tabriz, Qom and other cities in Iran.

TebMedTourism team facilitates comprehensive medical & cosmetic packages in all medical & wellness & touristic fields aimed to achieve your desires.

TebMedTourism experienced team will make this procedure seamless and enjoyable from A to Z, so you will just focus on your recovery.