PGS? PGD? 3 Different Types Of Embryo Testing To Help With Infertility

If you’re a couple with infertility considering IVF, you may have heard that genetic embryo testing is an option. There are different types of embryo testing with names like #PGD and #PGS 

It has become really confusing. I am going to clear this up for you.



In the beginning, all embryo testing was called PGD which stands for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis



Later, when different types of tests starting becoming popular, some additional acronyms were introduced



PGD was used to refer to testing embryos for mutations one specific gene. A common example is the disease cystic fibrosis.



PGS was used to refer to testing that looked at the number of chromosomes that an embryo had. A normal, healthy embryo has 46 chromosomes but often times, embryos will have extra or missing chromosomes. PGS Testing for these missing or extra chromosomes is the most common type of embryo testing that is performed today.



When the technology for testing embryos improved, and we were able to look at all 23 pairs of chromosomes instead of 5 or 6 pairs, many doctors started using another acronym instead of PGS. the new acronym, CCS stands for comprehensive chromosome screening.



Recently, one of our professional organizations has advocated changing these designations again. Its enough to make your head swim!!



Today, most people still use PGD to refer to any type of embryo testing. If you are considering #IVF with embryo testing just make sure that you understand what you are testing for and that you and your doctor are on the same page.





Infertility TV is your weekly source for the best medical information if you have infertility, recurrent miscarriage or are just trying to conceive. (TTC). InfertilityTV covers infertility testing, fertility treatments such as Clomid, Follistim and Crinone and fertility treatments like IUI and IVF (in vitro fertilization)



One of the most popular playlists on InfertilityTV are the TTC tips which are great even you are not struggling with infertility



Dr Morris is a practicing IVF and infertility expert who sees patients at IVF! located in the Naperville Fertility Center.



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ICSI - Is it your key to IVF success?

it's

like having your own fertility5-10% of couple doing IVF will fail fertilization. If you are thinking about doing IVF, you better learn about ICSI and ask your doctor about it. It could hold they key to your IVF success.



ICSI stands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Its actually a very simple process. You should know that during IVF, eggs are removed from a woman’s ovaries and are fertilized outside the body in a laboratory. Instead of putting hundreds of thousands of sperm outside an egg and hoping that one sperm will be able to fertilize it, #ICSI uses one sperm and injects it directly inside the egg. The stuff inside an egg is called the cytoplasm so ICSI stands for intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection.



Why was ICSI a revolution for IVF? Well many couples with infertility have sperm problems. Sometimes the sperm number are low, other times the movement of sperm is poor or the sperm are shaped abnormally. Before ICSI, couples with these problems frequently had failure of their eggs to fertilize. The couples with severe male problems were considered poor candidates for IVF and had low pregnancy rates.



ICSI changed all that. Now couples who were considered poor candidates were all of a sudden great candidates for IVF. In fact, the worse the sperm problems were, the higher the couples chance for pregnancy using ICSI!



So which couples being treated with IVF should have ICSI?  One group of patients that all doctors would agree should have ICSI is couples with men who have an abnormal semen analysis. No controversy there. Also, couples who need to do genetic testing on their embryos, need to do ICSI to prevent the DNA from extra sperm from messing up the results.



But what about men who have a normal semen analysis? Well, as it turns out, studies have shown that men with a normal semen analysis may still fail to fertilize eggs in IVF 5-10% of the time. That’s not a high percentage but if you are that 1 in 10 couples who goes through an IVF cycle and then finds out that none of your eggs fertilized because of some undetected problem with sperm, it can be pretty devastating.



So I agree with the group of doctors who recommends ICSI for all couples doing IVF whether they have an abnormal semen analysis or not. But not all doctors agree with this approach.



By the way, ICSI doesn’t increase the chance for a pregnancy to occur over the older methods of fertilization. It just reduces the chances of fertilization failure so that a couple will have embryos to use to attempt pregnancy.



Infertility TV is your weekly source for the best medical information if you have infertility, recurrent miscarriage or are just trying to conceive. (TTC). InfertilityTV covers infertility testing, fertility treatments such as Clomid, Follistim and Crinone and fertility treatments like IUI and IVF (in vitro fertilization)



One of the most popular playlists on InfertilityTV are the TTC tips which are great even you are not struggling with infertility



Dr Morris is a practicing IVF and infertility expert who sees patients at IVF! located in the Naperville Fertility Center.



Increase your "Infertelligence"  ™



#IVF #intracytoplasmicsperminjection



Subscribe to Infertility TV now!!!

A new episode of Infertility TV is broadcast weekly every Thursday afternoon



or visit our website at IVF1.com



*******************************************

Do you want to become a patient at IVF1?

*******************************************



Register online here:

https://patient.ivf1.com/PatientPortal/NewPatient



Or call:

630-357-6540

Varicocele - Is it killing your fertility? Learn what to do

Any man that has low sperm counts or poor sperm movement could have a problem known as a varicocele



A #varicocele is the presence of enlarged or dilated veins in the blood vessels of the scrotum.



Do varicoceles cause #infertility in men?

The answer is...sometimes. Watch for a complete explanation



We are not entirely certain how varicoceles cause infertility. Some evidence points to the increased temperature 



Another theory is that in men with varicoceles, the testicular fluid which carries sperm has an increased concentration of chemicals which can damage sperm.



So how do you know if you have a varicocele?

The most obvious cases can be seen by just looking at a guy’s scrotum.



Ultrasound of the scrotum can be used to diagnose a smaller, less obvious varicocele. Some advanced types of ultrasound can even measure blood flow in the veins of the scrotum.



Let’s say you have infertility and you have been diagnosed with a varicocele. What can you do?



There are a number of different ways to try to get rid of a varicocele. Watch this video for all the methods.



Finally, another alternative instead of improving the sperm is to try to make better use of the sperm that a guy does have. If his sperm problem is mild, an IUI or intrauterine insemination can increase the number of sperm that makes it into the fallopian tubes where fertilization happens. For guys with more severe sperm problems, IVF is a very effective treatment.



Infertility TV is your weekly source for the best medical information if you have infertility, recurrent miscarriage or are just trying to conceive. (TTC). InfertilityTV covers infertility testing, fertility treatments such as Clomid, Follistim and Crinone and fertility treatments like IUI and #IVF (in vitro fertilization)



One of the most popular playlists on InfertilityTV are the TTC tips which are great even you are not struggling with infertility



Dr Morris is a practicing IVF and infertility expert who sees patients at IVF! located in the Naperville Fertility Center.



Increase your "Infertelligence"  ™



Subscribe to Infertility TV now!!!

A new episode of Infertility TV is broadcast weekly every Thursday afternoon



or visit our website at IVF1.com



*******************************************

Do you want to become a patient at IVF1?

*******************************************



Register online here:

https://patient.ivf1.com/PatientPortal/NewPatient



Or call:

630-357-6540

Infertility Journey - Kathy and Brian - Surprise results after failed FET

After a failed FET cycle, Kathy and Brian's Infertility Journey let to a test called the Endometrial Receptivity Array or ERA. Abnormal results led to a change in protocol and....well, watch to find out the rest!



Infertility Journey explores the process of that couples go through who learn they have infertility, undergo fertility testing and begin fertility treatment.



Episodes of Infertility Journey are told by the patients themselves, in their own words, as they recount the difficult and sometimes emotional steps in the struggle to have a baby.



#ERA #FET #infertilityjourney



Dr Randy Morris MD-The BOARD CERTIFIED fertility expert with weekly TTC tips on InfertilityTV



Infertility TV is your weekly source for the best medical information if you have infertility, recurrent miscarriage or are just trying to conceive. (TTC). InfertilityTV covers infertility testing, fertility treatments such as Clomid, Follistim and Crinone and fertility treatments like IUI and IVF (in vitro fertilization)



One of the most popular playlists on InfertilityTV are the TTC tips which are great even you are not struggling with infertility



Dr Morris is a practicing IVF and infertility expert who sees patients at IVF! located in the Naperville Fertility Center.



Increase your "Infertelligence"  ™



Subscribe to Infertility TV now!!!

A new episode of Infertility TV is broadcast weekly every Thursday afternoon



or visit our website at IVF1.com



*******************************************

Do you want to become a patient at IVF1?

*******************************************



Register online here:

https://patient.ivf1.com/PatientPortal/NewPatient



Or call:

630-357-6540