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Embryo Testing

The process of screening and even diagnosing embryos, which were created during in vitro fertilization (IVF), for chromosomal makeup to help identify differences known as aneuploidy or identify known disease causing genetic disorders, prior to embryo transfer. 

 

Embryo Testing is for:

  • Patients going through IVF or ICSI

  • Patients who haven’t had success with other fertility treatments (like medication and insemination)

  • Individuals or couples with PCOS, endometriosis, low sperm count, and other fertility diagnoses

  • People who want to screen for hereditary disorders

  • Those who want pregnancy on-demand, including LGBTQIA+ couples, single women and single men

  • Patients with a known hereditary cancer who would like to prevent it from being passed on to offspring

The process,
explained simply.

  • Depending on your reason for considering embryo Testing, you and/or your partner or sperm/egg donor may need to undergo additional genetic carrier screening or chromosome analysis, to fully understand what your risk of having an offspring with a disease causing genetic disorder may be. The Doctor may also recommend that you undergo genetic counseling with a licensed genetic counselor to better map out you and/or your partner’s family tree and to calculate your specific risks of having a child with a specific genetic disease. Depending on the results of your testing and genetic counseling session(s), embryo screening may not be necessary or feasible, or the doctor might recommend alternative treatments to start.

  • The doctor will review your diagnosis, testing results and genetic counseling notes with you and discuss your treatment options. If you decide to proceed with embryo Testing, our doctor and staff will go over the entire process, including financials, to help you determine if embryo testing is right for you.

  • The first step required is undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), in which your ovaries are stimulated over the course of 2 weeks to produce mature eggs. Once retrieved, these eggs are then fertilized in a lab with sperm. If someone does not have ovaries or no longer has viable eggs in their ovaries, eggs from an egg donor can also be used to create embryos with either your sperm, your partner’s sperm or a donor’s sperm.

  • After approximately 3 to 7 days following fertilization, the embryos will be biopsied, ie a tissue sample comprising of a few cells will be taken from what would become the placenta and sent off for genetic testing, while the embryos themselves will then be immediately frozen and stored at our center for future possible transfer into a womb.

  • Once your embryo biopsy samples arrive at the lab, a comprehensive analysis of all chromosomes in these cells will be performed, to assess for aneuploidy or evidence of disease-causing genetic disorders of interest.

  • After your embryos have completed testing, your provider will call to discuss the results of your report and next steps.

  • Once you go through your report with your provider, the embryologist will choose the healthiest embryo to transfer into your uterus.

  • Some patients may choose to make any of the embryos that they did not transfer available for adoption by other patients/couples. This is on a case by case basis and we encourage you to reach out to our Fertility Counselors to schedule an appointment, if you are considering embryo adoption.