What is IVF Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT)？

1. What is Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT)?

Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) is a method of screening some cells from an embryo and detecting related genetic and chromosomal disorders. This testing is done during IVF, usually before embryo transfer, in a process also known as "third-generation IVF."

PGT-A is used for aneuploidy screening and provides families at risk for the disease with the opportunity to screen normal chromosome number embryos for transfer. The role of PGT-A is to identify embryos with abnormal chromosomes, so that these abnormal embryos are not transferred back to the mother, while embryos with normal chromosome numbers and healthy embryos are transferred back to the uterus, making the fetus healthier.

2. Which patients should have PGT?

PGT is a very useful tool. If one or both spouses carry related genetic diseases, according to the genetic model of the disease, their offspring are at high risk, and PGT-M can effectively reduce the genetic risk of these diseases. PGT-A can be applied to all embryos produced during an IVF cycle. We assume that all embryos of women under the age of 35 have a 30% probability of chromosomal abnormalities, so PGT-A can accurately screen those embryos with normal chromosome numbers, thus effectively avoiding multiple meaningless embryo transfer cycles for patients.

3. What are the risks of PGT?

The biggest risk of PGT is that there are no embryos available for transfer, which leads to the cancellation of the transfer cycle, which means that all embryos may be abnormal after PGT screening. In this case, the IVF cycle had to be cancelled because there were no embryos to transfer.