Should I do PGS on my frozen embryos?

[Anonymous]

Another perspective. We had 5 frozen from the fresh cycle that gave us our son. Didn't bother testing since we had so many. Now I am 4 failed frozen cycles later and kicking myself we didn't spend the 5k to test on the front end. Instead we have now spent 20k on embryos that doctors have decided we're probably all chromosomally abnormal. Have one more to go and then would go to fresh. Feel like we wasted a ton of time and should have just tested

[Anonymous]

So we had PGS done. It was $1500 for the Biopsy. $2000 for the PGS testing, and I think it was $1800 for the freeze we didn't "lose any" do to the biopsy. Each embroyo is different so if one is good, the others could be not good. Shady grove said for a Women at 34 chances are 30-40% of Embroyos will come back abnormal.

[Anonymous]

I had to do a freeze all cycle due to OHSS, and had 8 frozen. We did not PGS test. Our first transfer was negative, and 2nd was a miscarriage. At that point we decided to thaw, PGS test and refreeze the remaining 6. Half of them ended up being normal and I am in my 3rd trimester from the first transfer we did of a known normal embryo. I am so happy that we tested, and wished we had done it from the beginning. I could have possibly saved myself the heartache and wasted time from the first 2 transfers. I also think that SG has a great lab and vitrification causes minimal damage. Also, it helps to figure out if the issue with failed cycles is the embryos or something else. I would recommend PGS testing if you can afford it.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks everyone for all the perspectives. Ugh IF is just all so hard. One tough decision after another. Statistically speaking, odds are 1 of the 3 embryos is abnormal. So... maybe we roll the dice on that and see what happens. :-/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP. DW and I were in a similar situation a few years ago. She did a cycle at Shady Grove and we ended up with two embryos that made it to blast. We transferred one and froze the other. The first transfer took, but we lost the pregnancy due to chromosomal abnormalities. At that point we decided to test the remaining embryo, which required thawing it, doing a biopsy, then refreezing while we waited for results. Although the embryo was normal, we believe that the freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw, as well as the biopsy, really interfered with successful implantation. It was only 80% thawed and it didn't stick. Makes me really wish we'd never tested it, and that we had just transferred.

For what it's worth, my DW recently became a patient of Dr. Braverman. Among other things, he told us that when she does her next cycle, we should do a freeze all and NOT test them. He also told us that while PGS does identify chromosomal abnormalities, there are also instances where PGS tested "abnormal" embryos are not, in fact, abnormal (based on a small study he did with his own patients). He also said that the biopsy can do more harm than good in some cases. Now, if you're a person with like 20 embryos, then I could see the sense in testing to at least narrow down what to transfer. However, if you only have a few - which will likely be the case for us (if we're lucky) - it doesn't necessarily make sense to test them.

OP here, thanks for your post. This is my biggest concern - that our embryos are normal but that we'd lose some due to the stress of biopsy, and then not have any at all to transfer! I guess it's weighing the risk of possible miscarriage due to chromosomal issues, or risk of not having any remaining frozen embryos to transfer. That's a tough one...

PP here. Yes, it's really tough. My DW had to TFMR with the chromosomally abnormal pregnancy, and that was the worst thing that has ever happened to us. Darkest point in our lives, no doubt. I wish I had better advice for you! Good luck to you.

Thank you for posting your experience. I am getting ready for FET, and I was debating whether I should go for PGS or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another perspective. We had 5 frozen from the fresh cycle that gave us our son. Didn't bother testing since we had so many. Now I am 4 failed frozen cycles later and kicking myself we didn't spend the 5k to test on the front end. Instead we have now spent 20k on embryos that doctors have decided we're probably all chromosomally abnormal. Have one more to go and then would go to fresh. Feel like we wasted a ton of time and should have just tested

PP, if you don't mind me asking, at what age you had your retrieval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The freeze/thaw/biopsy/freeze is too traumatic for the embryos. Don't do it!

Losing a pregnancy to chromosomal problems is also pretty damn traumatic.

[Anonymous]

Not a similar situation as I was 37 when i went through IF and during my fresh cycle PGS testing was never mentioned. After a failed transfer (2 transferred) I discussed PGS testing with my RE on the 7 i had remaining. Ultimately we decided not to test, but we did transfer 3 for my first FET with 1 sticking. Fast forward a couple of years and with 4 left and 2 kids, we decided to test the remaining 4 before going for our 3rd because I knew i had a "receptive uterus" and the last thing I wanted to deal with was potentially having to make the decision about what to do if the 1st trimester screening showed abnormalities.