PGS Testing of Frozen Embryos

[Anonymous]

Hi. I completed an IVF cycle at Walter Reed in 2013 and had my DS from a fresh transfer. We have 5 untested blasts that are frozen from that cycle. I am thinking about trying to get pregnant with those embryos, but I want to get them tested as to decrease my chance of a miscarriage (I know that a PGS-tested embryo does not guarantee a pregnancy). The embryos are currently at the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax. That clinic said they do testing on frozen embryos in their own labs. A few questions for you ladies: Has anyone had experience testing frozen embryos and what clinic did you go through for that? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I had embryos thawed and tested at SG last year. I was told that this was a common procedure for them.

[Anonymous]

it is possible, you just have to realize that there is a risk that embryos may not survive thaw and refreeze. so just be aware of the odds. How old were you when you had the IVF that resulted in embryos. that may play a factor. I was 32 when my embryos were frozen & my RE didn't see the medical necessity to PGS test them then as I have no hx of pregnancy, tube, lining issues. I am sure my next IVF I may PGS test because I will be 35 then. currently doing my second FET & hoping for the best. I would hate to spend $$$ to test remaining 2 embryos. hopefully I don't get to the point. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for the responses. I was 36 when the embryos were created. I'm 41 now. I waited so long to consider another pregnancy because I have pretty bad anxiety and suffered from post-partum depression and anxiety with my last child.

The thought of having to go through many miscarriages to get another baby scares me, but also the thought of damaging perfectly good embryos with the thaw and refreeze scares me too.

Has anyone had a successful pregnancy from a thawed, tested and refrozen embryo?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have experience success from a thawed frozen embryo that was tested and refreeze. I have 5 frozen embryos that we thawed and one did not survive the thaw. RE said that an embryo that did not survive the thaw for PGS will probably also not survive the thaw for a transfer.

[Anonymous]

I would test them. We had 5 leftover embryos from the same batch that gave me DC #2 when I was 36. Fast forward to 39 all 5 leftover embryos failed and we spent 25k trying. I so wish we had just spent the money up front to test. Instead we blew all of that time and money on embryos that didn’t work. By the time we went through all those embryos and I was 40, we were out of money to do a fresh cycle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had a successful pregnancy from a thawed, tested and refrozen embryo?

Yes, I have. An out-of-state clinic/lab did the thawing and testing. It was risky, but I had a toddler and didn’t want to be flying across the country multiple times or risk having multiple miscarriages. I made peace that none of them might survive all the thawing and freezing but fortunately that was not the case.

[Anonymous]

I was at SG and following a miscarriage had my remaining embryos thawed, tested, and refroze the two normal ones. A couple years later had one of those rethawed and it became my now 5 month old DD who's sleeping on my bed next to me right now. This was with 41 year old eggs (and I don't know why we didn't test them fresh, we just didn't think of it, but after the miscarriage I decided I'd rather take the chance with thawing/testing and I'm glad I did).

[Anonymous]

Yep, getting ready to do this, hopefully it works! The clinic made it sound like it wasn't a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

We had nine frozen at SGF (created when I was 41). Defrosted, tested, and refroze. Two did not survive the thaw - we were told it was because they were bad to begin with. Four out of remaining seven came back normal. Refroze, and transferred one PGS normal in a few months, and had my DS3 two months ago.

[Anonymous]

I just had a consult at GW and was told the dr would not do PGS at my age (early 40s), bc there is such a high risk of them not surviving the thaw at my age. Just FYI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just had a consult at GW and was told the dr would not do PGS at my age (early 40s), bc there is such a high risk of them not surviving the thaw at my age. Just FYI

The embryos need to be thawed at some point for a transfer. If they can’t durvivd the thaw for a PGS testing, why would they survive a thaw for the transfer? I might get a second opinion on this if I weee you.