PGT testing - Pros and cons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't thank you enough for this clear explanation! You have helped me understand something about this test/do-not-test thingy which I have had a nagging doubt about, so thank you again
We absolutely do not have any resources or help, physical, financial or emotional support network, to deal with a child with abnormalities and this was our first priority to consider. So we did want to test but again held back since we wanted to know more about the transfers of abnormals.

I'm so glad for any thoughts I could provide that were helpful! It's SO much to think through and at a time that's already so fraught, and there's all this conflicting information out there, ugh. I am now a few years past this so have had time to gather my thoughts and I had some similar conversations at the time with my DH. I think it's so hard for the partner who isn't subject to the physicality of the hormones, retrieval/implantation, pregnancy etc. to really get just what a number it does on your body so I definitely didn't blame my DH (or yours) for focusing more on things like costs that seem controllable. Take care and I am sending you all possible love and good wishes for normal blasts, sticky embies, a BFP and healthy birth! <3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tough call. I'd lean towards not testing so you have more $$ for more IVF cycles. If you think about it, PGS cannot create a normal embryo from a batch of abnormals. In that way it cannot increase your chances as long as you are willing to chug through all the embryos with FETs. The only way it could increase your chance is if you are in danger of "burning out" and not transferring all the embryos you get.

Would your doctor transfer 2 day 3s?

DH also says the same thing you're saying - that the test cannot create a normal embryo from an abnormal batch. And if we get no normals, then what next? Also we are trying to gather info about the results of transferring an abnormal embryo, so to say. Whether it has resulted in a pregnancy and a healthy birth, or produced opposite results.

I don't understand the thinking that "a test can't create a normal embryo, so why test." The point of testing is so that you don't put your body and mind through the stress of multiple FETs and potentially devastating miscarriages or terminations for medical reasons (TMFR - you will see this acronym on various infertility boards). You also won't waste more months of your rapidly waning fertile years going through months of useless FETs when you could be doing more egg retrievals in hopes of finding a good one. I am not unsympathetic, OP, I did six rounds of IVF over ages 41-42 and the drop-off over that time period in both eggs retrieved and their quality was striking. PGT testing is a really pretty small cost compared to the IVF process as a whole - and NO amount of money can buy back the time you may lose with repeated FETs of untested, ultimately non-viable embryos.

Also one popular argument against testing I hear a lot is people saying they would welcome a child with Down Syndrome anyway, for instance. But what about one with an abnormality that doesn't necessarily prevent a full-term pregnancy but is incompatible with life, e.g. Trisomy 13 or 18? That's another thing to think about. I know there is a lot of talk in some circles these days about how abnormal embryos might somehow correct themselves. I think that's highly unlikely at best and frankly suspect there are some pro-lifers at work in those conversations who are not concerned with the mother's (or father's) mental, physical, and financial stressors at all. At 42, I would absolutely test all your embryos if you're able to get them to blast stage.

Whatever path you take, I wish you good luck. It's a hard road but there really is a lot of wonderful stuff medical science can do these days. Fingers crossed for a healthy baby for you, OP!

I can't thank you enough for this clear explanation! You have helped me understand something about this test/do-not-test thingy which I have had a nagging doubt about, so thank you again
We absolutely do not have any resources or help, physical, financial or emotional support network, to deal with a child with abnormalities and this was our first priority to consider. So we did want to test but again held back since we wanted to know more about the transfers of abnormals.

The PP here pretty clearly rationalized my thoughts for PGS testing. My husband and I debated about the cost but realized that the cost of multiple transfers would also add up financially, as well as mentally/emotionally for me. Another factor for me was wanting to feel as positive as I could about the transfer/resulting pregnancy. My doctor didn’t advise me to do PGS testing (I was 35) but didn’t think it would be harmful. She did say that she would look at the quality of the blasts before we sent them off and the number of blasts (e.g., if the quality wasn’t great, the risk of damaging the embryo might outweigh the benefits and if we only got a couple of blasts, she might advise a second retrieval before sending them off). In the end, we got 5 blasts and 3 were normal and we were very happy we tested.