IVF & IVF With PGD
IVF & PGD
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
In vitro fertilization is the joining of a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm in a laboratory dish. In vitro means outside the body. Fertilization means the sperm has attached to and entered the egg.
Normally, an egg and sperm are fertilized inside a woman’s body. If the fertilized egg attaches to the lining of the womb and continues to grow, a baby is born about 9 months later. This process is called natural or unassisted conception.
IVF is a form of assisted reproductive technology (ART). This means special medical techniques are used to help a woman become pregnant. It is most often tried when other, less expensive fertility techniques have failed.
In IVF clinic , fertility drugs are used to stimulate the ovaries of the woman. The idea is to get the ovaries to mature many eggs, instead of the usual one or two that occur in a natural cycle.
At about mid-cycle, while the woman is under anesthesia, an ultrasound-guided needle is placed through the vaginal wall to retrieve the eggs. The male partner provides a sperm sample, unless a sperm donor is being used. Then, in the lab, the eggs and sperm are put together. Hopefully, some of the eggs will become fertilized. Fertilized eggs are embryos.
What is PGD?
Recently a new procedure called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) has become available in few countries. It is used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and is a way of detecting specific genetic disorders within an embryo before it is placed within the womb. This gives parents who may both suffer from a genetic disorder, the chance of having a baby without that defect.
This assisted reproductive technology was invented to help avoid particular genetic disease, and that is still its primary use. However, IVF-PGD can also be used to conceive a child of a specific sex for non-medical reasons. IVF with PGD is medically invasive and very expensive, making it out of reach for the vast majority of families. Even those who need IVF, due to infertility, often can’t afford the treatment.
For the PGD part of the procedure, a few cells are biopsied from the developing embryos. These are sent for genetic evaluation. This is how it’s determined which embryos are XX (girls) and XY (boys). The woman (or couple) can then decide which embryos are transferred back into the woman’s uterus. For example, if she only wants a girl, then only XX embryos would be considered. Before you consider IVF, it’s extremely important you understand all the risks to the mother and baby. PGD comes with its own set of risks and costs.
What is PGD?
Recently a new procedure called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) has become available in few countries. It is used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and is a way of detecting specific genetic disorders within an embryo before it is placed within the womb. This gives parents who may both suffer from a genetic disorder, the chance of having a baby without that defect. 
This assisted reproductive technology was invented to help avoid particular genetic disease, and that is still its primary use. However, IVF-PGD can also be used to conceive a child of a specific sex for non-medical reasons.
IVF with PGD is medically invasive and very expensive, making it out of reach for the vast majority of families. Even those who need IVF, due to infertility, often can’t afford the treatment.
For the PGD part of the procedure, a few cells are biopsied from the developing embryos. These are sent for genetic evaluation. This is how it’s determined which embryos are XX (girls) and XY (boys). The woman (or couple) can then decide which embryos are transferred back into the woman’s uterus. For example, if she only wants a girl, then only XX embryos would be considered. Before you consider IVF, it’s extremely important you understand all the risks to the mother and baby. PGD comes with its own set of risks and costs.
A few other things to : keep in mind
There is no guarantee you will get any embryos of the sex you prefer. You could get all XX or all XY embryos. You’ll need to consider what you’ll do with the extra embryos of the sex you didn’t want. (You could possibly donate them to an infertile couple, dispose of them, or offer them for research.) Making this decision can be emotionally and ethically challenging.
Even IVF with PGD is not 100 percent guaranteed. Errors and mistakes occur. Just like there’s no guarantee you’ll get an embryo of the sex you want,
IVF doesn’t even come close to a pregnancy guarantee. A transferred embryo doesn’t mean you take home a baby.
Not every fertility clinic is willing to offer IVF with PGD for non-medical reasons. Some clinics will consider it for family balancing. There are also lots of ethical, social and religious debates surrounding this method of selective implantation.
Sex selection is illegal in most of the world. There is fertility tourism from the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to the United States, UAE and in few Asian countries for sex selection, because preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD, a potential expansion of IVF), which can be used for sex selection, is prohibited in the UK, Australia and Canada, except when it is used to screen for genetic diseases, while the laws in the US, UAE and in Thailand are more relaxed in this subject.
There is no guarantee you will get any embryos of the sex you prefer. You could get all XX or all XY embryos. You’ll need to consider what you’ll do with the extra embryos of the sex you didn’t want. (You could possibly donate them to an infertile couple, dispose of them, or offer them for research.) Making this decision can be emotionally and ethically challenging.
Even IVF with PGD is not 100 percent guaranteed. Errors and mistakes occur.Just like there’s no guarantee you’ll get an embryo of the sex you want,
IVF doesn’t even come close to a pregnancy guarantee. A transferred embryo doesn’t mean you take home a baby.
Not every fertility clinic is willing to offer IVF with PGD for non-medical reasons. Some clinics will consider it for family balancing. There are also lots of ethical, social and religious debates surrounding this method of selective implantation.
Sex selection is illegal in most of the world. There is fertility tourism from the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to the United States, UAE and in few Asian countries for sex selection, because preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD, a potential expansion of IVF), which can be used for sex selection, is prohibited in the UK, Australia and Canada, except when it is used to screen for genetic diseases, while the laws in the US, UAE and in Thailand are more relaxed in this subject.
