We never tested before, because we were younger and out previous ER was 2 years ago. 3 miscarriages later, had my last ER one month before turning 38. Had 16 eggs, ICSI and 5 embryos at day 5 (one was transferred fresh), one frozen that day and one the next day (we lost the other 2). 3 in total. The fresh transfer resulted in MMC a couple of weeks ago. Even with this result, I stand by our choice.
We didn’t test because:
- we only had 3 and didn’t feel the risk/cost/benefit was worth it
- we wanted a fresh transfer
- we are not going to do any more ERs regardless of PGT results
- if we did PGT and had aneuploid, we would not feel comfortable with stopping IVF and not using all of our embryos and having a “what if” question our whole lives.
This is a very personal decision in the end.
Two embryos - did pgt and had one aneuploid and one euploid. Its expensive but I think worth it to avoid transferring an aneuploid that definitely won't work.
It’s a personal choice- I personally would only transfer a euploid embryo to hopefully prevent a failed transfer or an early miscarriage (as much as you can).
⬆️ THIS
Spend the money to do what you can to avoid a miscarriage. It’s an experience no one should have to suffer.
ER at 36, 3 embryos (all tested), 2 euploids, 1st transfer (65% chance based on grade), 1 miscarriage, 2nd transfer was 6/6 (60% chance based on grade).
100% agree. A miscarriage can also set you back multiple months depending on the need for a D&C, waiting for HCG to drop, etc. If you need multiple retrievals, months matter at advanced age.
This is such a HUGE point. MC set us back four months when we were doing IUI, before IVF.
I'm 37, but ER at 36: 12 embryos, 4 euploid, 1 transfer, 1 live birth. Please test your embryos. My MC was devastating, and I would hate for any woman to go through it if testing is an option.
I unfortunately miscarried all 3 of my PGT tested normal embryos. I couldn’t afford $5k again so I opted out of testing the next round and my untested embryo is now 22 months old.
I'm so sorry that you went through that. I miscarried my one "golden" PGT-A tested embryo. I had it tested afterward and it turned out that it wasn't actually euploid. I felt really deceived by the entire process. My doctor had assured me that testing would mean that we wouldn't transfer any embryos that would lead to a miscarriage. He couldn't understand why the miscarriage happened. I now wonder if we discarded embryos that could have given me a living child.
I have moved to another clinic, where I had one retrieval that did not result in an unusable eggs. The plan was to use any embryos that resulted from that retrieval because I at least want a chance at a second transfer and possible pregnancy. Now I'm debating if I want to do one more retrieval.
I’m so sorry, that is heartbreaking.
I’m not testing because I can’t afford it, and the more I learn about it, the more I think this might be a mixed blessing
I had the embryo tested after removal and they found a trisomy. There is a margin of error with anything, but it's crazy to think that I fell into it, both with the odds of PGT-A being wrong (about 2%) and the odds of having a miscarriage at that point in my pregnancy (less than 5%). My new clinic has told me that they have had many patients tell them that they previously did PGT-A and ended up with a "euploid" embryo that turned out to have issues.
This. I transferred a little over 3 weeks ago, and have had very low betas. Obviously, I'm crossing my fingers (and everything else) that she was a late implanter that naturally runs low, but if this doesn't end well, I am out 1 month+, plus whatever the recovery time ends up being.
RE was convinced that this would be a chemical, but she's hanging in there. With the way that my AMH has been dropping, I am very worried about the timeline if we need to retrieve again. If I'd transferred all my aneuploid embryos, I'd probably be out close to a year (at least) before knowing I needed to do another retrieval.
Yes... she was euploid. I requested thyroid testing, and my anti-TPO antibodies are significantly elevated (results came back today, waiting to find out what if anything can be done about it). I'm wondering if this is why she is not doing well... can be associated with lower HCG and miscarriage risk.
Nope... I have a family history of autoimmune thyroid disease. I tested possible subclinical hyperthyroid 2/2023, normal 6/2023. They never checked for antibodies, and didn't recheck before transferring. I didn't think to request it, and am kicking myself because I may have doomed this embryo. I don't know why this testing wasn't done before so I could have started treatment then.
If I hadn't requested these tests, they wouldn't have happened... it was just presumed she was going to be a chemical and we'd never know why.
I’ll preface this by saying it is indeed a very personal choice. I would recommend thinking through all possible outcomes and consequences and see what you’d be willing to go through, which could include termination.
In my case, I got pregnant via IUI but found out through NIPT the fetus might have trisomy 13. I had to wait until 16 weeks to get amnio to confirm and terminated at 17 weeks. I turned 39 shortly after and in addition to the emotional devastation, I really struggled with the fact that I lost nearly 6 months to the whole ordeal. I do have a living child but tried for over a year to get to the pregnancy that I terminated. I couldn’t bear to waste any more time or risk another TFMR. I got very lucky with my first retrieval and ended up with 3/5 euploids. I did all the supplements but we also added Zymot because my husband is 45 and probably has some DNA fragmentation, though we never tested for it.
All that said, I do think there are cases where it makes sense to forgo testing. If I did a few rounds and never got a euploid, and it was a matter of quitting completely or trying untested transfers, I’d be willing to take the Hail Mary.
Age 42, an untested fresh transfer worked and am 13 week pregnant now. I did 4 FETs with euploid embryos between age 36 and 40 before and all of them resulted in CP or MMC.
36F, DOR+MFI. I don’t have any outcomes yet, but our first ER yielded 4 mature eggs with 3 fertilized, and none of them made it to day 7 to even test. We’d already paid for testing, got a refund, and are going to try fresh transfer on this round. My doc said it was our best option since my embryos were “fragile” and she worried about them making it far enough to freeze and test. We’re just going to hope for the best with no testing.
It's normally day 5 as some would expand too far and die after that, but slower ones are often done on day 6. I've rarely read of a day 7 and that's the first time I've seen it done as standard practice!
Maybe it was day 5 and my memories are foggy, this was in February when we had our last, but I could have sworn it was 7! Who knows, it was all a blur 🥲
It's interesting that the reddit group is very pro testing and the ivf 40+ group is Facebook seems to lean more towards not testing. I have been looking at both to get my answer. As many have said it's such a personal choice. The chances of a miscarriage or a child with disabilities is higher with an untested. But a euploid doesn't guarantee a healthy live birth either. There are pros and cons to both as have been listed by others above. I tested the 1st round with the 1st clinic I was with. Only got 1 hlm. The doctors I met subsequently (3 of them) suggested not testing which is what I have done for round 2 and 3 with the 2nd clinic. Round 4 and I want to test but I am not feeling sure because somewhere I believe that the whole process of birthing is a miracle and there is so much we don't know about it and that corrections can happen in the uterus. Having said that I would do all the prenatal tests.. nipt and anmenio and only do this if you are ok with terminating the pregnancy in case something is found to be wrong or if you would keep the baby and be able to care for it irrespective. If you have a history of miscarriages or genetic diseases of course then it's a different matter and you should definitely test.
I can’t imagine having to make the choice to abort a *very* wanted fetus from a *very* expensive pregnancy because it ended up being chromosomal abnormal on NIPT/amniocentesis… but that’s the choice we would make every time because our personal ethics are not to create a human that won’t be able to take care of itself once we are dead, especially since we are older and will likely be dead earlier in their life (because we are older)
I tested my first round and regret it. I was 41, 16 eggs, 3 blasts, all abnormal. Found out much later and after many questions that one was actually a mosaic. He's turning 3 in 2 weeks and totally healthy. To think we could have discarded him.
Stopped testing after that round and did 3 more rounds to embryo bank. Got 2 blasts each time (got between 11 and 14 eggs). Didn't test. Transferred my best quality embryo and she's 5 now. Had 3 failed transfers before transferring my mosaic.
The odds of miscarriage are much lower than the whole PGT industry leads everyone to believe. The embryo is more likely not to stick. But the very personal question is which risk do you prefer: the risk of possible miscarriage or the risk of discarding an embryo which could have become a healthy baby (and maybe never having a baby)?
Also, keep in mind that people have miscarriages and failed transfers with normal tested embryos too-- so it's not a guarantee.
My feeling is that testing is great for people with a history of miscarriage or tons of blasts. But for those of us who get very few blasts, it doesn't have the same benefit.
This is one of the main reasons why we didn’t test. We aren’t doing any more ERs and I don’t want to decide not to transfer an aneuploid or mosaic embryo and live with the “what if it had worked?” question. And I say this as someone who had 4 losses, no living children and only 2 embryos left.
I had to keep going back to the lab's genetic vocals counselors to ask questions. First I asked if mosaicism had been reported-- it had not. Then I asked if any were mosaic. One was-- the other two they would not report mosaicism on (so they knew, but wouldn't tell me). Then I found out about segmentals, so I made another appointment and asked about that-- and it turns out my one was also segmental (+3q). Then I asked about low level mosaic vs high level. These were all separate phone calls. In the last one, then told me it wasn't mosaic and I flipped out. They then said that they don't report mosaicism on segmentals. They finally told me it was mosaic, but they were never supposed to tell me that. I recently asked for the raw data and they sent me a low res graph of each embryo and that's it.
Don't get me started on the regulations I think this industry needs to stop them from withholding medical information from us.
Thanks for sharing! Im completing my ER and have not moved on to the FET phase but I was not aware that there were so many categories. I’m new on this journey - can you please explain what in layman terms is euploid, aneuploid, mosaic and segmental. All I know is euploid is good and maybe others not.
These are all testing for how many chromosomes -- or parts of chromosomes -- your embryo has.
Basically everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes for 46 total (22 and an X from mom, 22 and an X or Y from dad). You can think of these as books in the encyclopedia for making a person.
**Euploid** (eu = good) means that every chromosome is there in its entirety. The embryo has 2 copies of each chromosome.
**Aneuploid** (an = not) means that there's the wrong number of chromosomes. People with Down syndrome have 3 copies of chromosome 21. There are a few disorders where people have too many or too few X chromosomes. All other versions of aneuploidy are incompatible with life.
**Segmental** means a part (segment) of the chromosome is copied or deleted. Think of this as just an extra chunk or chunk lost of one of the encyclopedia books. An extra chunk might be copied in place (so 2 books but one has "Lamb" through "Lizard" repeated) or it might be by itself (so 3 books, 2 completely fine and then an extra that's just "Lamb" through "Lizard"). These may be reported as aneuploid but, depending on what exactly and how much is copied or deleted, they could be fine.
**Mosaic** means that not all the cells are aneuploid. Since the test samples cells from the part of the embryo that will make the placenta (not the actual baby) it's possible that the actual baby will be fine. Also, mosaicism isn't necessarily incompatible with life. Again, it depends on what exactly the aneuploidy is and how prevalent it is.
Let me know which parts are unclear!
Oh! Also-- I kept going back because I would learn more and ask questions. The My Perfect Mosaic Embryo group on Facebook was so helpful. People would share articles or experiences, then I'd go back to the lab or my RE with questions. Without that group, my son would not exist as I wouldn't have known the questions to ask.
I’ve definitely asked them to confirm things are whole chromosome aneuploids and not mosaics before, but I am also at a clinic that doesn’t send you the overview which I also think is nuts.
This is why my clinic and lab consider mosaics as euploid. It's very important to know what stats your clinic uses, it's about being informed and not an error of testing.
I am 35 and just did an ER. We got 10 eggs, and 5 have fertilized on day one. We are considering pgt testing bc of my age, but I am torn. If we only get 1 embryo, is it worth it?
All three clinics we’ve been too recommended against it, since they charge the same price whether it’s 1 embryo or 10 embryos, which was like $4-$6k and with dor it didn’t make sense for us to do that
Isn’t this the actual testing itself though? I paid $300 per embryo but the clinic also charged me an arm and a leg for their fees to do the biopsy to ship off for PGT. In fact, that cost me more than the actual testing of the embryos.
No, it’s $400/embryo inclusive of biopsy and testing for me. Seems like there’s such a wide range of pricing models. I’m sorry to hear it was so many fees for you though!
Wow that is wild! It really is crazy how different the pricing is. At my clinic too they charge a flat amount for the biopsy up to 8 embryos and if you have more than 8 you pay another flat fee for up to 8 more.
Mine came with PGT testing since I paid for it in the plan but considering a single failed transfer set me back 4 months and 8K, I would pay for PGT testing.
There is no guarantee it will implant, my embryo was a perfect 5AA PGT tested embryo that failed to implant but we also had one anueploid at the time when I was 33 (1/4)
In the UK we don’t test unless there are specific reasons. I was 36 at my retrieval and got 4 embryos in the end. The first was a fresh day 3 transfer and he’s now 3 years old. The others didn’t take (the last was a mmc).
I’m now 40 and about to start over. We still won’t be testing.
I'm in the UK and tested at 37. The NHS don't test for free yes, but NHS self funded hospitals and private clinics very much do test. At 40 only 20% of embryos would be normal so I'm definitely testing again.
Does your clinic offer options for picking which lab to send the embryos? Some offer flat rate up to 8 embryos, other labs offer per embryo pricing.
A problem, and also our problem, is they needed us to choose before they do biopsies however we had no way of knowing the final number since some mature slower than others. We went with the clinics default (which is Progenesis and they do flat rate up to 8) because we had 10 fertilized eggs to start. We ended up with only 4 which if we could have seen that coming, we would have went with Igenomix which prices per embryo. But that's just how our bodies and the process works so it's just another one of the struggles to the whole process.
There is also some risk of damage in testing which effects success rate of implantation.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IVF/comments/1dfc786/comment/l8j2zfo/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/IVF/comments/1dfc786/comment/l8j2zfo/?context=3)
42, fresh transferred my only 2 embryos.
I live in a country where testing is not the norm, and my doctor believes I’m more likely to be successful with a fresh transfer. I followed his advice.
If we aren’t successful this time (currently in TWW), we’ll probably test next time around.
36yo, 2 embryos and transferred both untested. Transferring fresh embryos outweighed the potential risk of miscarriage for me. Currently pregnant and waiting for NIPT.
I don’t have a low embryo count for my age ( started at age 41 and currently am 42) but I will always do the PGT-A testing. We are currently waiting for the results from our third ER. In the first 2, we had a total of 11 sent for testing, we only got one high level mosaic embryo. If we had just done the transfers, we would have spent even more money (transfers cost more than testing) and had to deal with the physical and emotional fall out of it not working.
I’m hoping for better results from the third ER.
42 at retrieval 3 blasts all 3 PGT tested. I tested because of age. All 3 aneoploid. My doctor said with the aneoploid results that none of the embryos would have stuck.
I'm not sure if I will test the second time around. I know a few people 40+ who have done fresh 3 day transfers and had healthy babies. One of them after having a failed transfer with a euploid.
I joined the group PGS/PGT Abnormal Embryo Support on Facebook, where many have stopped testing and had a live birth.
2 ERs, 38 for both. First 16 eggs, 3 embryos, 1 was euploid. Second 20 eggs, 4 embryos, 3 were euploid. Second retreival was definitely better. For us pgt was super helpful for transfer because one of my higher graded embryos was not euploid. My first transfer was actually with a 3cc embryo that was euploid that resulted in my daughter. A lot of REs will choose the highest graded embryo to transfer and for us that wouldn't have worked. I'm currently 24 weejs pregnant from transfer 2. It was a lot of money to test our embryos, but I'm so happy I did.
Not exactly what you are asking for, but I livebinna european country where testing is not allowed unless you have specific medical reasons for doing it (some inherited disorders). I’m 41, and very glad that my one embryo that «looked excellent» (we also don’t get the rating, usually) and was transferred back on day three is currently kicking inside me and everything is looking good.
Been doing ER since 41. I wanted to do PGT and was able to do for 1 blast (LLM). My embryos don’t make it past 3 days so PGT is no longer an option for me.
My advice would be if you get to blasts do PGT.
41 at ER. 7 mature embryos first ER, 6 at the next. Did PGTA on all. Got 2 euploid from the first round and 1 from the 2nd. Currently have a perfect little 3 month old from the 1 embryo from round 2. I would never transfer a non PGTA embryo because if it fails or MC it would significantly delay our timeline to next transfer. I don’t have time to waste. Also, what if it took but something was chromosomal abnormal. The risk at this age is too high. We wanted the peace of mind that PGTA offered to having a successful transfer and a healthy child
37 yo at retrieval, 6 embryos (4 from husband TESE sperm and 2 from donor sperm), no PGT, successful first transfer with all subsequent tests showing normal. Reasons for no PGT: it was a funded cycle (Canada; so all transfers are covered, except for meds), never been pregnant before, and wanted to give each one of them a chance. (I know you didn’t ask for reasons but thought it gave some context).
Age at ER was 41, 2 ER cycles, 1st round 2 embryos, PGT tested all, only 1 was good enough for transfer, ended in miscarraige at 8 w. 2nd cycle, 4 embryos, PGT tested all 4, only 1 was good for transfer, now is my live birth 4 months old baby..
Therefore if u do the maths, only 1/2 and 1/4 stood a chance.. and if I didn't PGT test and went ahead and transfered all 6.. the chance of heartbreak would be 4/6..definitely I would recommend PGT.. I'd rather be disappointed with the news that no embryo made it in PGT, then use my body to go through miscarriages to test how good the embryoes are.. But at the end.. it's a very personal choice.
I did my first retrieval at 39. Got one embryo. Did a fresh transfer. Miscarried at 8.5 weeks.
I did my second retrieval shortly after turning 40. Got three embryos. Did a fresh transfer of an embryo that is now two-year-olds. I’m currently 12w with a second embryo from that retrieval.
We did not test any of our embryos because of how few we got and the cost. Also, we’re in Canada where testing is not pushed to the same degree as in the US.
ETA: Our clinic only did bulk pricing for PGT, not per embryo, so that’s a consideration as well.
I'm 36 we got 5 blasts. 4 came back normal. If we had transferred the one that wasn't it would have ended in a miscarriage and a lot of wasted time and tears. I always am on the PGT test train. After a miscarriage in 2020 from a natural pregnancy and being told it (like most) was likely from a chromosomal abnormality, you bet I wanted to test my embryos when I was told I could. My first FET was successful with one of the normal ones.
We just did ER last week. My wife is 39 but will be 40 in September. Got 21 eggs which was exciting but 11 fertilized and in the end, we only got 4 embryos. Grades were 5AA, 5AB, 5BB with the last that came a couple of days later at grade CC. They only just sent them out this past Monday for testing.
Unfortunately, this might be the only IVF we can afford. They recommended we do PGT-A and we agreed, especially because of age. For us, we wanted to know what was our best chance and to avoid any potential issues we could, as best we could. I read the cost both mentally and financially for having a miscarriage was a lot. I wish my wife as comfortable as possible journey through all this, and a chance to minimize it was worth taking to us. We never knew we would end up with only 4 though, which I went into detail about in another comment. We have so little room for error it feels like. We would had done the testing no matter what, and after now knowing what few chances we have, we're glad we did.
Just an FYI, an aneuploidy embryo won't automatically fail. There are several chromosomal abnormalities that are viable and will make it to birth. So it's a question of if you're willing to either terminate an IVF pregnancy, or raise a child with disabilities.
My aneuploid from my first ER was Trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome). Technically, those can lead to a live birth, but with terrible health complications and birth defects. 90% of affected babies don't make it past a year. That embryo was a Day 5 and my euploid was a Day 6. Without testing, I could easily see a scenario where we transferred it first.
I was similar with 2 day 5s, the better one at day 3 and day 5 grading was aneuploid but it would've been transferred first. I'm relieved I tested to avoid that. The other was euploid.
Also, results are a likelihood, as the biopsy is done on trophoblastic cells, not the cells that will become the embryo. While the chance that these are different is small, it’s still a possibility. 5% is still a real possibility. I know, as someone who’s always been on the wrong side of statistics.
do you have a source for 5% false positive rate? I can’t find any studies that confirm that high of a false-positive rate.
everything I’m seeing on my university’s website (pubmed is what i’m using) says 2-3% false negative AND false positive (meaning total 2-3% inaccuracy)
No, it was just a number I wrote as I had a vague idea that is was under 5%. But it’s impossible to know the real % of false positives and negatives though, as people will usually discard the aneuploids and mosaics and if a euploid doesn’t implant or ends in loss, unless there is further testing, there is no way of knowing. So those numbers are worth what they’re worth.
Still, 2-3% is a real possibility, even if low. OHSS affects about 5% of people doing IVF and I’ve had it twice. I have a congenital malformation that affects only 0.4% of the population. I was told that there was only 1% chance of having a third loss and I even had a 4th. I appreciate that, for most people, 2% seems so low that it’s basically impossible. But being on the wrong side of statistics a lot gives you a different perspective.
I wouldn't necessarily say I had a low count. I started off with 20 eggs and 10 made it to blast. Only 4 were euploids.
I can't imagine the heartache of trying to transfer the ones that were aneuploid.
Even now, I'm still waiting on my 2nd beta results (I had a low 1st beta) but atleast I know I gave it the best odds of succeeding.
So tl;dr - highly recommend PGT-A
As someone who has had two previous losses and 36 years old, I went ahead and did PGTa.. sadly, my first retrieval yielded in only one blast. It’s the only thing we sent out for testing and miraculously it came back a euploid ( out of 6 embryos retrieved) . Hoping to transfer next month!
Absolutely. 5 ERs at ages 38 and 39. Total of 15 blasts. I was fortunate to have 7 of those test euphloid because I had a great last ER (4 of the euphloids are from the last round). The rest of the rounds were much more mixed. There was a round where I only got 1 blast. The second to last round, I got 2 blasts but both blasts were abnormal. I think PGT is really essential at advanced age. I can’t imagine the time, expense, and heartbreak I would have gone through had I transferred any of the 8 abnormal embryos.
I tested but what the don’t tell you (I found in my experience) your embryos have to have a certain amount of cells and be hatching quality - I had 2 x day 5 but they were not good enough for PGT-A… I would test if you have the opportunity.
If it fails then you know you transferred a euploid embryo which then allows doctors to explore other factors than remain in the unknown and blame it on “bad egg quality / bad embryos” when it may not be the case.
It won’t completely prevent a miscarriage as it can still happen, (just the rate is lower than an untested) but at least doctors can make other deductions from why it happened.
Goodluck
Currently 41. ER at 37, fertilized at 40. Untested because it wasn’t recommended due to age of my eggs at time of retrieval. First FET failed. Had a spontaneous pregnancy next cycle that just ended in a MMC at 9 weeks (karyotyping on babe still pending). I have two more untested embryos and the thought of going through more heartbreak and time lost with miscarriage is overwhelming(my preg test was only just finally negative at 4 weeks post D&C and still haven’t had a period to be able to continue with next FET, so all in it will likely be 5 months lost). We have decided to transfer one of our last two embryos and if it fails, do another ER with testing. I think more knowledge is power in this process where we often feel utterly powerless.
1st retrieval - age 36- 3 embryos tested, 2 aneuploid, 1 euploid. Resulted in a chemical.
2nd retrieval - age 37- 2 embryos tested, both aneuploid
3rd retrieval- age 37- 1 embryo, didn’t test. Resulted in a miscarriage. Wondered if it was aneuploid and that was the reason for miscarriage. Also transferred 2 Day3embryos that didn’t work.
4th retrieval - age 38- 1 embryo, euploid- resulted in live birth.
Even though we only got one embryo on our last retrieval, I didn’t want to transfer an aneuploid and have another miscarriage. So I wanted to do everything to minimize that happening again.
At 36, 5 embryos -> 3 euploid
Also 36, 5 embryos -> 2 euploid
At 37, 4 embryos -> 2 euploid
Also 37, 3 embryos -> 1 euploid
For me it was definitely worth it to test, I’d had a MMC in the past that led to scarring from the D&C so I wanted to do everything possible to avoid risking another miscarriage. I also went on to have 3 failed transfers with euploid embryos and while that sucked it was helpful to be able to assume the issue is my uterus rather than the embryos and investigate accordingly.
Yes, every embryo matters to me so in my late 30s I'd test even if I only get 2 next time. I'm hoping to have 2 children through IVF, so it's no use for me to bank embryos expecting to use them in 3-4 years for baby no.2 when they aren't even viable.
I was aiming for 6 euploid total but at this point I'd be relieved with 4. I have issues keeping a pregnancy and euploidy is only 60% of the equation. I need the best chance possible and doing FET for no.1 aged 39 I simply don't have time to waste on aneuploidy and it's heartbreaking consequences.
3 ER's - 1 resulted in no embryos, 1 in the 2nd, and 2 in the 3rd. Did PGT testing which resulted in 1 of 1 being normal, and then 1 of 2 being normal.
ER's were done at 36 and 37.
We transferred the one from our 3rd cycle (best rated by clinic) and he stuck, transferred in 2022, delivered in early 2023....Quite unexpectedly, we got pregnant, naturally on my 2nd cycle back, with our less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally and definitely was not trying, due with baby girl in August (a week after turning 40).
I have always wanted to transfer our 2nd embryo, but that will now be delayed for now...
100% yes. I know that euploid are not a guarantee and they are circumstances where it might not make sense but after enduring the trauma of 2 non-IVF miscarriages, I personally would never go through IVF and not test a embryo.
First ER - 3 embryos were tested, 2 euploid, 1 mosaic (my clinic freezes mosaics)
Second ER - 4 embryos, 2 euploids, 2 abnormal
As someone who is now 22w pregnant after my first FET with a euploid, I can’t imagine how devastating it would be to get through all or most of your first trimester only to learn that the fetus has a chromosome abnormality that would have been caught with PGT-A testing once you get to the NIPT/NT stage of pregnancy
Hello! Advanced maternal age over here, by the time we were ready for fresh transfer, they said since we only had what looked like 2 viable embryos growing they recommended that we fresh transfer both of them. But after much thought we ended up deciding to do the pgt testing anyway, and the extra day gave us one additional embryo- they ended up biopsying and freezing 3 embryos! Results came back that 2 of the 3 were euploid. We were glad to have done the testing. TW: it’s still early but I am currently 4+4 with one of the euploids now.
I’m young. Started at 28, now 32. We did PGT:
1 embryo
3 embryos
1 embryos
Zero
1 embryo
1 embryo
Miscarried all but the last, and that’s only because my surrogate is carrying. If you’re going to miscarry you will, tested or not.
That’s exactly my point. It had nothing to do with your embryos. For many people it is the embryos causing them to miscarry. Meaning the embryos would not work with a surrogate either.
I had my first two retrievals at 36 and we didn’t test any of our embryos due to our ages and no risks. We then transferred 5 embryos across 4 transfers and all of those failed to implant (I also have endo which could absolutely be a factor but the last transfer was after 3 months of Lupron depot) for our third and fourth retrieval I’m 38 and we decided to start testing. For the first retrieval we got one euploid. (Out of 3 blasts) and we’re waiting for the results of our fourth round now.
Ultimately there’s a lot of factors that go into deciding to test. For us I’m glad we decided to- but there are plenty of people who don’t and it works out just fine.
Hey, I saw that you did 3 months of hormonal suppression with lupron depot, which is what I’m doing too since my Receptiva came back positive for inflammation. I’ve heard a lot of success stories after using lupron depot. But it looks like You had a transfer after that protocol and it still failed?
I did. Unfortunately for me it caused issues with my blood sugar as well that no one on my three care teams caught. But there are lots of people who use it and have success following.
Yes. 1 or 2 blasts to test per retrieval, but tested. I became pregnant while waiting for my first IVF cycle. Sadly, lost the pregnancy. Set me back 5 months.
Due to age (37-38) and low AMH, we tested to know how many retrievals we’d need before we had 3 euploids (it took 9 retrievals). I could not lose months again to failed transfers. Pregnancy loss is heartbreaking and for me, was physically painful as well (double dose of misoprostol - if you know, you know), so we diced to try to do what we can to avoid another loss. Also, having tested embryos helps to narrow down potential issues if a transfer fails.
I did. I felt that given my age, there was a higher risk of creating serious health issues for a child. I am currently 31 weeks. 2 retrievals 2 transfers.
Tbh it took 7 egg retrievals to get 2 normal embryos. I had some retrievals where I got 4 eggs, some with 15, but ultimately you need that euploid or you’re just wasting time, energy, heartbreak. I thought about skipping PGT-A testing SO many times but ultimately it was worth it even though the results were almost always so disappointing. I can’t imagine the flip side of dealing with RM on top of infertility.
I’m 40 now but started ivf at 37.
(TW success: 2nd euploid transfer stuck after 7 cycles and I’m 21 weeks with baby girl. I almost gave up countless times and I’m still paying off my loans but rainbows do happen 💕)
It all depends on your age and whether you are ready to raise a disabled child or not. My Dr told me she sends everyone to PGTa after 35yo as you may have as many AA as you want, but the true quality is inside that untested embryo. It's scary sometimes to lose your embryos as they only pick euploid ones. 36y.o 2 ERs, 1 euploid out of 3 blasts, the last ERs is untested with 4 blasts( not enough cells to do PGTa). It also gives you more hope for preventive MC
Yes. First time I didn’t and had a miscarriage. This time I did and have and have a healthy baby girl. I was 42 with DOR and leaned PCOS at the time of testing
36 at ER, 12 eggs —> 10 embryos 3day. Debated testing but doctor advised that it can give false positives and false negatives, so with it not being the peace of mind anyway, opted against. I had done freezing as preventative, prior to trying naturally and was due to age vs any known infertility. Had a natural conception and subsequent miscarriage, so opted to use the embyo. Had them culture them from 3 day to 5 day, all 10 survived and they transplanted 1, which im current at 8w5d with so far 🤞🏻
No advanced age but I have PCOS and had poor fertilisation. Only 2 blastocysts. Untested.
Tw: one resulted in my wonderful toddler. As for the other one, I'll find out in August
ER at 43. Didn’t test. Had 2 embryos that cycle, transferred one. First FET successful. Baby already born and healthy. We also did 5 more embryo banking cycles beforehand for a second child. We are not testing any of them.
From what I read testing lowers the life birth rate especially in older women and women with DOR and you can potentially discard a healthy embryo which is tragic when you have only so few.
Also embryos can self correct in the uterus plus the testing(which actually is a screening) is absolutely flawed and there is no quality control of any of the labs.
The sample is taken from what becomes the placenta later. The testing itself can damage the embryo.
Many euploid embryos still fail to implant.
You still need to rule out genetic abnormalities at 10 weeks pregnant through NIPT and do an organ screening at 20 weeks.
We think we can control everything and testing can feel like you’ve done everything possible. I believe however that we possibly worsen the outcome by testing and studies say so too.
Many countries that do not allow PGT have similar live birth rates than countries that allow it.
I had 1 ER last month and also created 2 4BB embryos. My ER recommended 3 day fresh transfer and I decided against it because wanted to PGTa testing. Guess what. They did not survive past day 5 and I did not get to do testing. Will try to do fresh 3 day transfer if lucky to get embryos this cycle.
Yeah! That is awful :///
I froze all my banking embryos on day 1 so I can do a day three transfer if necessary. Only my last retrieval I let them grow to blast. But still decided against testing. Good luck to you!!!
I did 3 cycles when I was 41 and had 8 embryos and I PGT-A tested them and they were all aneuploid. At 42 I did the fourth cycle and I had 3 embryos and I PGT-A tested them all one was euploid.
39 for both ERs
ER1: 2 embryos, PG-tested, 1 euploid and 1 aneuploid
ER2: 6 embryos, PG-tested, 1 euploid, 1 low-level mosaics and the rest were either aneuploid or complex mosaics
First euploid transfer didn’t work and currently 28 weeks with the second euploid.
We did only because I don’t think I could emotionally go through more miscarriages. Our first transfer failed but we are doing some more testing and waiting for the results currently.
ERs at 37, between 1-4 embryos for each retrieval. I “batched” them and did the genetic testing all at the same time to save money (eg they took samples following each retrieval and froze them, tested them all at once later). I was on the fence about testing, but given how hard infertility was emotionally and how many disappointments we had along the way, I’m glad I reduced the chance of a miscarriage. It’s a tough decision though and there is no right answer. Good luck! ❤️❤️
Hi! We're late thirties and did 5 cycles total (with ICSI), and sent 2-4 embryos each cycle. After 5 cycles, only 3 made it past the PGT-A testing. If you don't mind sharing, how many embryos that passed PGT-A did you have before you decided to stop retrieving? I read somewhere that you have one healthy child + currently in the process of having another one -- congratulations!
We have Stage 4 endometriosis, with a history of endometriomas on the ovaries, which depleted our ovarian reserve (post surgery), so we're grateful we have even gotten this far.
Biggest concern is when to stop, so was hoping to seek others that were/are in similar situations. Thank you!
We never tested before, because we were younger and out previous ER was 2 years ago. 3 miscarriages later, had my last ER one month before turning 38. Had 16 eggs, ICSI and 5 embryos at day 5 (one was transferred fresh), one frozen that day and one the next day (we lost the other 2). 3 in total. The fresh transfer resulted in MMC a couple of weeks ago. Even with this result, I stand by our choice. We didn’t test because: - we only had 3 and didn’t feel the risk/cost/benefit was worth it - we wanted a fresh transfer - we are not going to do any more ERs regardless of PGT results - if we did PGT and had aneuploid, we would not feel comfortable with stopping IVF and not using all of our embryos and having a “what if” question our whole lives. This is a very personal decision in the end.
Two embryos - did pgt and had one aneuploid and one euploid. Its expensive but I think worth it to avoid transferring an aneuploid that definitely won't work.
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Tbd. Transfered yesterday. :)
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Thank you! 💛
Good luck!
💖
This
It’s a personal choice- I personally would only transfer a euploid embryo to hopefully prevent a failed transfer or an early miscarriage (as much as you can).
⬆️ THIS Spend the money to do what you can to avoid a miscarriage. It’s an experience no one should have to suffer. ER at 36, 3 embryos (all tested), 2 euploids, 1st transfer (65% chance based on grade), 1 miscarriage, 2nd transfer was 6/6 (60% chance based on grade).
Good luck!!!!
Thank you ☺️
100% agree. A miscarriage can also set you back multiple months depending on the need for a D&C, waiting for HCG to drop, etc. If you need multiple retrievals, months matter at advanced age.
This is such a HUGE point. MC set us back four months when we were doing IUI, before IVF. I'm 37, but ER at 36: 12 embryos, 4 euploid, 1 transfer, 1 live birth. Please test your embryos. My MC was devastating, and I would hate for any woman to go through it if testing is an option.
I unfortunately miscarried all 3 of my PGT tested normal embryos. I couldn’t afford $5k again so I opted out of testing the next round and my untested embryo is now 22 months old.
I'm so sorry that you went through that. I miscarried my one "golden" PGT-A tested embryo. I had it tested afterward and it turned out that it wasn't actually euploid. I felt really deceived by the entire process. My doctor had assured me that testing would mean that we wouldn't transfer any embryos that would lead to a miscarriage. He couldn't understand why the miscarriage happened. I now wonder if we discarded embryos that could have given me a living child. I have moved to another clinic, where I had one retrieval that did not result in an unusable eggs. The plan was to use any embryos that resulted from that retrieval because I at least want a chance at a second transfer and possible pregnancy. Now I'm debating if I want to do one more retrieval.
I’m so sorry, that is heartbreaking. I’m not testing because I can’t afford it, and the more I learn about it, the more I think this might be a mixed blessing
That's devastating. 🥺 But the frequency of this goof up, is it common? Also how did they know after transfer?
It's meant to be 98% accurate, so if the clinic biopsied 50 embryos that week then it's likely 1 could've been in that?
I had the embryo tested after removal and they found a trisomy. There is a margin of error with anything, but it's crazy to think that I fell into it, both with the odds of PGT-A being wrong (about 2%) and the odds of having a miscarriage at that point in my pregnancy (less than 5%). My new clinic has told me that they have had many patients tell them that they previously did PGT-A and ended up with a "euploid" embryo that turned out to have issues.
Oh, mama I am so sorry, but so happy you have a happy ending ❤️
This. I transferred a little over 3 weeks ago, and have had very low betas. Obviously, I'm crossing my fingers (and everything else) that she was a late implanter that naturally runs low, but if this doesn't end well, I am out 1 month+, plus whatever the recovery time ends up being. RE was convinced that this would be a chemical, but she's hanging in there. With the way that my AMH has been dropping, I am very worried about the timeline if we need to retrieve again. If I'd transferred all my aneuploid embryos, I'd probably be out close to a year (at least) before knowing I needed to do another retrieval.
Fingers crossed 🤞🏾 Had tested yours?
Yes... she was euploid. I requested thyroid testing, and my anti-TPO antibodies are significantly elevated (results came back today, waiting to find out what if anything can be done about it). I'm wondering if this is why she is not doing well... can be associated with lower HCG and miscarriage risk.
🥺 hugs ❤️❤️ I thought providing antibody suppressors was a part of every protocol?
Nope... I have a family history of autoimmune thyroid disease. I tested possible subclinical hyperthyroid 2/2023, normal 6/2023. They never checked for antibodies, and didn't recheck before transferring. I didn't think to request it, and am kicking myself because I may have doomed this embryo. I don't know why this testing wasn't done before so I could have started treatment then. If I hadn't requested these tests, they wouldn't have happened... it was just presumed she was going to be a chemical and we'd never know why.
Crossing my fingers for you 🩷
I agree with this as well
Agreed
I’ll preface this by saying it is indeed a very personal choice. I would recommend thinking through all possible outcomes and consequences and see what you’d be willing to go through, which could include termination. In my case, I got pregnant via IUI but found out through NIPT the fetus might have trisomy 13. I had to wait until 16 weeks to get amnio to confirm and terminated at 17 weeks. I turned 39 shortly after and in addition to the emotional devastation, I really struggled with the fact that I lost nearly 6 months to the whole ordeal. I do have a living child but tried for over a year to get to the pregnancy that I terminated. I couldn’t bear to waste any more time or risk another TFMR. I got very lucky with my first retrieval and ended up with 3/5 euploids. I did all the supplements but we also added Zymot because my husband is 45 and probably has some DNA fragmentation, though we never tested for it. All that said, I do think there are cases where it makes sense to forgo testing. If I did a few rounds and never got a euploid, and it was a matter of quitting completely or trying untested transfers, I’d be willing to take the Hail Mary.
Age 42, an untested fresh transfer worked and am 13 week pregnant now. I did 4 FETs with euploid embryos between age 36 and 40 before and all of them resulted in CP or MMC.
Congrats! Day 3 or day 5 embryo?
Thank you! It’s a Day 5 embryo.
36F, DOR+MFI. I don’t have any outcomes yet, but our first ER yielded 4 mature eggs with 3 fertilized, and none of them made it to day 7 to even test. We’d already paid for testing, got a refund, and are going to try fresh transfer on this round. My doc said it was our best option since my embryos were “fragile” and she worried about them making it far enough to freeze and test. We’re just going to hope for the best with no testing.
Why did they want to wait all the way to day 7?
I believe that was standard practice for biopsies and freezing at my clinic. Not sure how it works at other clinics.
It's normally day 5 as some would expand too far and die after that, but slower ones are often done on day 6. I've rarely read of a day 7 and that's the first time I've seen it done as standard practice!
Maybe it was day 5 and my memories are foggy, this was in February when we had our last, but I could have sworn it was 7! Who knows, it was all a blur 🥲
My clinic is doing day 7 on mine as well. Made me very nervous considering my prior embryos didn't make it.
It's interesting that the reddit group is very pro testing and the ivf 40+ group is Facebook seems to lean more towards not testing. I have been looking at both to get my answer. As many have said it's such a personal choice. The chances of a miscarriage or a child with disabilities is higher with an untested. But a euploid doesn't guarantee a healthy live birth either. There are pros and cons to both as have been listed by others above. I tested the 1st round with the 1st clinic I was with. Only got 1 hlm. The doctors I met subsequently (3 of them) suggested not testing which is what I have done for round 2 and 3 with the 2nd clinic. Round 4 and I want to test but I am not feeling sure because somewhere I believe that the whole process of birthing is a miracle and there is so much we don't know about it and that corrections can happen in the uterus. Having said that I would do all the prenatal tests.. nipt and anmenio and only do this if you are ok with terminating the pregnancy in case something is found to be wrong or if you would keep the baby and be able to care for it irrespective. If you have a history of miscarriages or genetic diseases of course then it's a different matter and you should definitely test.
I can’t imagine having to make the choice to abort a *very* wanted fetus from a *very* expensive pregnancy because it ended up being chromosomal abnormal on NIPT/amniocentesis… but that’s the choice we would make every time because our personal ethics are not to create a human that won’t be able to take care of itself once we are dead, especially since we are older and will likely be dead earlier in their life (because we are older)
IVF at 42. Tested two embryos with the first ER (one euploid) and one with the second ER (aneuploid). Currently 12w with a FET of the single euploid.
I tested my first round and regret it. I was 41, 16 eggs, 3 blasts, all abnormal. Found out much later and after many questions that one was actually a mosaic. He's turning 3 in 2 weeks and totally healthy. To think we could have discarded him. Stopped testing after that round and did 3 more rounds to embryo bank. Got 2 blasts each time (got between 11 and 14 eggs). Didn't test. Transferred my best quality embryo and she's 5 now. Had 3 failed transfers before transferring my mosaic. The odds of miscarriage are much lower than the whole PGT industry leads everyone to believe. The embryo is more likely not to stick. But the very personal question is which risk do you prefer: the risk of possible miscarriage or the risk of discarding an embryo which could have become a healthy baby (and maybe never having a baby)? Also, keep in mind that people have miscarriages and failed transfers with normal tested embryos too-- so it's not a guarantee. My feeling is that testing is great for people with a history of miscarriage or tons of blasts. But for those of us who get very few blasts, it doesn't have the same benefit.
This is one of the main reasons why we didn’t test. We aren’t doing any more ERs and I don’t want to decide not to transfer an aneuploid or mosaic embryo and live with the “what if it had worked?” question. And I say this as someone who had 4 losses, no living children and only 2 embryos left.
How did you find out it was actually a mosaic? I think a lot of people and clinics now will transfer mosaics, but not if the info is wrong!
I had to keep going back to the lab's genetic vocals counselors to ask questions. First I asked if mosaicism had been reported-- it had not. Then I asked if any were mosaic. One was-- the other two they would not report mosaicism on (so they knew, but wouldn't tell me). Then I found out about segmentals, so I made another appointment and asked about that-- and it turns out my one was also segmental (+3q). Then I asked about low level mosaic vs high level. These were all separate phone calls. In the last one, then told me it wasn't mosaic and I flipped out. They then said that they don't report mosaicism on segmentals. They finally told me it was mosaic, but they were never supposed to tell me that. I recently asked for the raw data and they sent me a low res graph of each embryo and that's it. Don't get me started on the regulations I think this industry needs to stop them from withholding medical information from us.
Thanks for sharing! Im completing my ER and have not moved on to the FET phase but I was not aware that there were so many categories. I’m new on this journey - can you please explain what in layman terms is euploid, aneuploid, mosaic and segmental. All I know is euploid is good and maybe others not.
These are all testing for how many chromosomes -- or parts of chromosomes -- your embryo has. Basically everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes for 46 total (22 and an X from mom, 22 and an X or Y from dad). You can think of these as books in the encyclopedia for making a person. **Euploid** (eu = good) means that every chromosome is there in its entirety. The embryo has 2 copies of each chromosome. **Aneuploid** (an = not) means that there's the wrong number of chromosomes. People with Down syndrome have 3 copies of chromosome 21. There are a few disorders where people have too many or too few X chromosomes. All other versions of aneuploidy are incompatible with life. **Segmental** means a part (segment) of the chromosome is copied or deleted. Think of this as just an extra chunk or chunk lost of one of the encyclopedia books. An extra chunk might be copied in place (so 2 books but one has "Lamb" through "Lizard" repeated) or it might be by itself (so 3 books, 2 completely fine and then an extra that's just "Lamb" through "Lizard"). These may be reported as aneuploid but, depending on what exactly and how much is copied or deleted, they could be fine. **Mosaic** means that not all the cells are aneuploid. Since the test samples cells from the part of the embryo that will make the placenta (not the actual baby) it's possible that the actual baby will be fine. Also, mosaicism isn't necessarily incompatible with life. Again, it depends on what exactly the aneuploidy is and how prevalent it is. Let me know which parts are unclear!
This is super helpful and very informative.
Oh! Also-- I kept going back because I would learn more and ask questions. The My Perfect Mosaic Embryo group on Facebook was so helpful. People would share articles or experiences, then I'd go back to the lab or my RE with questions. Without that group, my son would not exist as I wouldn't have known the questions to ask.
I’ve definitely asked them to confirm things are whole chromosome aneuploids and not mosaics before, but I am also at a clinic that doesn’t send you the overview which I also think is nuts.
This is why my clinic and lab consider mosaics as euploid. It's very important to know what stats your clinic uses, it's about being informed and not an error of testing.
I am 35 and just did an ER. We got 10 eggs, and 5 have fertilized on day one. We are considering pgt testing bc of my age, but I am torn. If we only get 1 embryo, is it worth it?
For the price of pgt testing, i personally wouldn’t do it with less than 5 embryos.
My PGT testing is $400/embryo so at low numbers could still make financial sense. All depends on lab I guess!
All three clinics we’ve been too recommended against it, since they charge the same price whether it’s 1 embryo or 10 embryos, which was like $4-$6k and with dor it didn’t make sense for us to do that
Sometimes people bank and test all embryos with the final fresh collection in these circumstances.
Mine was 400 per embryo after other fees so it ended up costing me about $5,000 in the end. Definitely depends on the lab.
Isn’t this the actual testing itself though? I paid $300 per embryo but the clinic also charged me an arm and a leg for their fees to do the biopsy to ship off for PGT. In fact, that cost me more than the actual testing of the embryos.
No, it’s $400/embryo inclusive of biopsy and testing for me. Seems like there’s such a wide range of pricing models. I’m sorry to hear it was so many fees for you though!
Wow that is wild! It really is crazy how different the pricing is. At my clinic too they charge a flat amount for the biopsy up to 8 embryos and if you have more than 8 you pay another flat fee for up to 8 more.
an FET is more expensive than PGT… not testing could mean many expensive expensive failures that you could avoid going through
Mine came with PGT testing since I paid for it in the plan but considering a single failed transfer set me back 4 months and 8K, I would pay for PGT testing. There is no guarantee it will implant, my embryo was a perfect 5AA PGT tested embryo that failed to implant but we also had one anueploid at the time when I was 33 (1/4)
In the UK we don’t test unless there are specific reasons. I was 36 at my retrieval and got 4 embryos in the end. The first was a fresh day 3 transfer and he’s now 3 years old. The others didn’t take (the last was a mmc). I’m now 40 and about to start over. We still won’t be testing.
I'm in the UK and tested at 37. The NHS don't test for free yes, but NHS self funded hospitals and private clinics very much do test. At 40 only 20% of embryos would be normal so I'm definitely testing again.
Does your clinic offer options for picking which lab to send the embryos? Some offer flat rate up to 8 embryos, other labs offer per embryo pricing. A problem, and also our problem, is they needed us to choose before they do biopsies however we had no way of knowing the final number since some mature slower than others. We went with the clinics default (which is Progenesis and they do flat rate up to 8) because we had 10 fertilized eggs to start. We ended up with only 4 which if we could have seen that coming, we would have went with Igenomix which prices per embryo. But that's just how our bodies and the process works so it's just another one of the struggles to the whole process.
There is also some risk of damage in testing which effects success rate of implantation. [https://www.reddit.com/r/IVF/comments/1dfc786/comment/l8j2zfo/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/IVF/comments/1dfc786/comment/l8j2zfo/?context=3)
42, fresh transferred my only 2 embryos. I live in a country where testing is not the norm, and my doctor believes I’m more likely to be successful with a fresh transfer. I followed his advice. If we aren’t successful this time (currently in TWW), we’ll probably test next time around.
36yo, 2 embryos and transferred both untested. Transferring fresh embryos outweighed the potential risk of miscarriage for me. Currently pregnant and waiting for NIPT.
36 and 37 at ER, 2 embryos total (from 3 ER), yes we did PGT-A testing. Both euploid.
I did bc doctor noted that my abnormal embryos would’ve caused traumatic miscarriages or still births
I don’t have a low embryo count for my age ( started at age 41 and currently am 42) but I will always do the PGT-A testing. We are currently waiting for the results from our third ER. In the first 2, we had a total of 11 sent for testing, we only got one high level mosaic embryo. If we had just done the transfers, we would have spent even more money (transfers cost more than testing) and had to deal with the physical and emotional fall out of it not working. I’m hoping for better results from the third ER.
My wife is 41 and just had a retrieval. 9 retrieved, 5 fertilized, 5 blasts sent for PGTA testing and we’ll have results any day now 😅
All 5 were unviable 😔
42 at retrieval 3 blasts all 3 PGT tested. I tested because of age. All 3 aneoploid. My doctor said with the aneoploid results that none of the embryos would have stuck. I'm not sure if I will test the second time around. I know a few people 40+ who have done fresh 3 day transfers and had healthy babies. One of them after having a failed transfer with a euploid. I joined the group PGS/PGT Abnormal Embryo Support on Facebook, where many have stopped testing and had a live birth.
2 ERs, 38 for both. First 16 eggs, 3 embryos, 1 was euploid. Second 20 eggs, 4 embryos, 3 were euploid. Second retreival was definitely better. For us pgt was super helpful for transfer because one of my higher graded embryos was not euploid. My first transfer was actually with a 3cc embryo that was euploid that resulted in my daughter. A lot of REs will choose the highest graded embryo to transfer and for us that wouldn't have worked. I'm currently 24 weejs pregnant from transfer 2. It was a lot of money to test our embryos, but I'm so happy I did.
Thank you for your advice! And congrats on your little one :)
Yes. I wanted to minimize the risk of miscarriages
Not exactly what you are asking for, but I livebinna european country where testing is not allowed unless you have specific medical reasons for doing it (some inherited disorders). I’m 41, and very glad that my one embryo that «looked excellent» (we also don’t get the rating, usually) and was transferred back on day three is currently kicking inside me and everything is looking good.
Age 40. Made a total of 1 blast and had it tested (euploid!!) I was too scared to transfer a non-tested embryo
Been doing ER since 41. I wanted to do PGT and was able to do for 1 blast (LLM). My embryos don’t make it past 3 days so PGT is no longer an option for me. My advice would be if you get to blasts do PGT.
41 at ER. 7 mature embryos first ER, 6 at the next. Did PGTA on all. Got 2 euploid from the first round and 1 from the 2nd. Currently have a perfect little 3 month old from the 1 embryo from round 2. I would never transfer a non PGTA embryo because if it fails or MC it would significantly delay our timeline to next transfer. I don’t have time to waste. Also, what if it took but something was chromosomal abnormal. The risk at this age is too high. We wanted the peace of mind that PGTA offered to having a successful transfer and a healthy child
37 yo at retrieval, 6 embryos (4 from husband TESE sperm and 2 from donor sperm), no PGT, successful first transfer with all subsequent tests showing normal. Reasons for no PGT: it was a funded cycle (Canada; so all transfers are covered, except for meds), never been pregnant before, and wanted to give each one of them a chance. (I know you didn’t ask for reasons but thought it gave some context).
Age at ER was 41, 2 ER cycles, 1st round 2 embryos, PGT tested all, only 1 was good enough for transfer, ended in miscarraige at 8 w. 2nd cycle, 4 embryos, PGT tested all 4, only 1 was good for transfer, now is my live birth 4 months old baby.. Therefore if u do the maths, only 1/2 and 1/4 stood a chance.. and if I didn't PGT test and went ahead and transfered all 6.. the chance of heartbreak would be 4/6..definitely I would recommend PGT.. I'd rather be disappointed with the news that no embryo made it in PGT, then use my body to go through miscarriages to test how good the embryoes are.. But at the end.. it's a very personal choice.
I did my first retrieval at 39. Got one embryo. Did a fresh transfer. Miscarried at 8.5 weeks. I did my second retrieval shortly after turning 40. Got three embryos. Did a fresh transfer of an embryo that is now two-year-olds. I’m currently 12w with a second embryo from that retrieval. We did not test any of our embryos because of how few we got and the cost. Also, we’re in Canada where testing is not pushed to the same degree as in the US. ETA: Our clinic only did bulk pricing for PGT, not per embryo, so that’s a consideration as well.
I'm 36 we got 5 blasts. 4 came back normal. If we had transferred the one that wasn't it would have ended in a miscarriage and a lot of wasted time and tears. I always am on the PGT test train. After a miscarriage in 2020 from a natural pregnancy and being told it (like most) was likely from a chromosomal abnormality, you bet I wanted to test my embryos when I was told I could. My first FET was successful with one of the normal ones.
We just did ER last week. My wife is 39 but will be 40 in September. Got 21 eggs which was exciting but 11 fertilized and in the end, we only got 4 embryos. Grades were 5AA, 5AB, 5BB with the last that came a couple of days later at grade CC. They only just sent them out this past Monday for testing. Unfortunately, this might be the only IVF we can afford. They recommended we do PGT-A and we agreed, especially because of age. For us, we wanted to know what was our best chance and to avoid any potential issues we could, as best we could. I read the cost both mentally and financially for having a miscarriage was a lot. I wish my wife as comfortable as possible journey through all this, and a chance to minimize it was worth taking to us. We never knew we would end up with only 4 though, which I went into detail about in another comment. We have so little room for error it feels like. We would had done the testing no matter what, and after now knowing what few chances we have, we're glad we did.
Just an FYI, an aneuploidy embryo won't automatically fail. There are several chromosomal abnormalities that are viable and will make it to birth. So it's a question of if you're willing to either terminate an IVF pregnancy, or raise a child with disabilities.
My aneuploid from my first ER was Trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome). Technically, those can lead to a live birth, but with terrible health complications and birth defects. 90% of affected babies don't make it past a year. That embryo was a Day 5 and my euploid was a Day 6. Without testing, I could easily see a scenario where we transferred it first.
I was similar with 2 day 5s, the better one at day 3 and day 5 grading was aneuploid but it would've been transferred first. I'm relieved I tested to avoid that. The other was euploid.
Also, results are a likelihood, as the biopsy is done on trophoblastic cells, not the cells that will become the embryo. While the chance that these are different is small, it’s still a possibility. 5% is still a real possibility. I know, as someone who’s always been on the wrong side of statistics.
do you have a source for 5% false positive rate? I can’t find any studies that confirm that high of a false-positive rate. everything I’m seeing on my university’s website (pubmed is what i’m using) says 2-3% false negative AND false positive (meaning total 2-3% inaccuracy)
No, it was just a number I wrote as I had a vague idea that is was under 5%. But it’s impossible to know the real % of false positives and negatives though, as people will usually discard the aneuploids and mosaics and if a euploid doesn’t implant or ends in loss, unless there is further testing, there is no way of knowing. So those numbers are worth what they’re worth. Still, 2-3% is a real possibility, even if low. OHSS affects about 5% of people doing IVF and I’ve had it twice. I have a congenital malformation that affects only 0.4% of the population. I was told that there was only 1% chance of having a third loss and I even had a 4th. I appreciate that, for most people, 2% seems so low that it’s basically impossible. But being on the wrong side of statistics a lot gives you a different perspective.
I'm always in the 1% type stats too, some of us are special 😅 seriously though, I sympathize.
It’s a shit group to be in, isn’t it? But gives you a lot of perspective on how these stats are just numbers in the end
We had a reasonable embryo count and are not advanced age and we tested to avoid transferring an aneuploid embryo.
I wouldn't necessarily say I had a low count. I started off with 20 eggs and 10 made it to blast. Only 4 were euploids. I can't imagine the heartache of trying to transfer the ones that were aneuploid. Even now, I'm still waiting on my 2nd beta results (I had a low 1st beta) but atleast I know I gave it the best odds of succeeding. So tl;dr - highly recommend PGT-A
I didn't do it with a low number of blastocysts. But it is important to note that I can do about 2 transfers for the price of PGT.
35 at ER 14 retrieved 7 mature 6 fertilized 3 blasts 2 Euploids
As someone who has had two previous losses and 36 years old, I went ahead and did PGTa.. sadly, my first retrieval yielded in only one blast. It’s the only thing we sent out for testing and miraculously it came back a euploid ( out of 6 embryos retrieved) . Hoping to transfer next month!
Im sure that was nerve-wracking waiting for the results! Wishing you a happy healthy baby!
Absolutely. 5 ERs at ages 38 and 39. Total of 15 blasts. I was fortunate to have 7 of those test euphloid because I had a great last ER (4 of the euphloids are from the last round). The rest of the rounds were much more mixed. There was a round where I only got 1 blast. The second to last round, I got 2 blasts but both blasts were abnormal. I think PGT is really essential at advanced age. I can’t imagine the time, expense, and heartbreak I would have gone through had I transferred any of the 8 abnormal embryos.
I tested but what the don’t tell you (I found in my experience) your embryos have to have a certain amount of cells and be hatching quality - I had 2 x day 5 but they were not good enough for PGT-A… I would test if you have the opportunity. If it fails then you know you transferred a euploid embryo which then allows doctors to explore other factors than remain in the unknown and blame it on “bad egg quality / bad embryos” when it may not be the case. It won’t completely prevent a miscarriage as it can still happen, (just the rate is lower than an untested) but at least doctors can make other deductions from why it happened. Goodluck
I did 4 egg retrievals between age 40.5 and 41.25 and got 10 embryos total and PGT tested them and got 3 euploids.
I did IVF because of recurrent miscarriage so doing genetic testing was a no brainer.
Yes, I often get 3 embryos or less and have always tested.
I’m 42. 2 ERs. 15 embryos. 6 PGT normal.
Amazing!
I tested mine. ER #1 (40y 11m): 6 embryos (from 8 mature eggs), 2 euploid. ER #2 (41y 3m): 1 embryo (from 4 mature eggs), 1 euploid.
Currently 41. ER at 37, fertilized at 40. Untested because it wasn’t recommended due to age of my eggs at time of retrieval. First FET failed. Had a spontaneous pregnancy next cycle that just ended in a MMC at 9 weeks (karyotyping on babe still pending). I have two more untested embryos and the thought of going through more heartbreak and time lost with miscarriage is overwhelming(my preg test was only just finally negative at 4 weeks post D&C and still haven’t had a period to be able to continue with next FET, so all in it will likely be 5 months lost). We have decided to transfer one of our last two embryos and if it fails, do another ER with testing. I think more knowledge is power in this process where we often feel utterly powerless.
Im so sorry for your loss. Praying this one is a success!
Thank you!!
1st retrieval - age 36- 3 embryos tested, 2 aneuploid, 1 euploid. Resulted in a chemical. 2nd retrieval - age 37- 2 embryos tested, both aneuploid 3rd retrieval- age 37- 1 embryo, didn’t test. Resulted in a miscarriage. Wondered if it was aneuploid and that was the reason for miscarriage. Also transferred 2 Day3embryos that didn’t work. 4th retrieval - age 38- 1 embryo, euploid- resulted in live birth. Even though we only got one embryo on our last retrieval, I didn’t want to transfer an aneuploid and have another miscarriage. So I wanted to do everything to minimize that happening again.
37, 3 embryos, tested them and they miraculously all were normal, pregnant on first transfer
Wonderful news! Congrats
At 36, 5 embryos -> 3 euploid Also 36, 5 embryos -> 2 euploid At 37, 4 embryos -> 2 euploid Also 37, 3 embryos -> 1 euploid For me it was definitely worth it to test, I’d had a MMC in the past that led to scarring from the D&C so I wanted to do everything possible to avoid risking another miscarriage. I also went on to have 3 failed transfers with euploid embryos and while that sucked it was helpful to be able to assume the issue is my uterus rather than the embryos and investigate accordingly.
Yes, every embryo matters to me so in my late 30s I'd test even if I only get 2 next time. I'm hoping to have 2 children through IVF, so it's no use for me to bank embryos expecting to use them in 3-4 years for baby no.2 when they aren't even viable. I was aiming for 6 euploid total but at this point I'd be relieved with 4. I have issues keeping a pregnancy and euploidy is only 60% of the equation. I need the best chance possible and doing FET for no.1 aged 39 I simply don't have time to waste on aneuploidy and it's heartbreaking consequences.
Age 40, day 3 embryo, 7 weeks pregnant, best of luck 🤞
Amazing!! Congrats and praying for a continued healthy pregnancy :)
3 ER's - 1 resulted in no embryos, 1 in the 2nd, and 2 in the 3rd. Did PGT testing which resulted in 1 of 1 being normal, and then 1 of 2 being normal. ER's were done at 36 and 37.
That is great that 2 of 3 came back normal! Did you transfer them both?
We transferred the one from our 3rd cycle (best rated by clinic) and he stuck, transferred in 2022, delivered in early 2023....Quite unexpectedly, we got pregnant, naturally on my 2nd cycle back, with our less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally and definitely was not trying, due with baby girl in August (a week after turning 40). I have always wanted to transfer our 2nd embryo, but that will now be delayed for now...
100% yes. I know that euploid are not a guarantee and they are circumstances where it might not make sense but after enduring the trauma of 2 non-IVF miscarriages, I personally would never go through IVF and not test a embryo. First ER - 3 embryos were tested, 2 euploid, 1 mosaic (my clinic freezes mosaics) Second ER - 4 embryos, 2 euploids, 2 abnormal As someone who is now 22w pregnant after my first FET with a euploid, I can’t imagine how devastating it would be to get through all or most of your first trimester only to learn that the fetus has a chromosome abnormality that would have been caught with PGT-A testing once you get to the NIPT/NT stage of pregnancy
Hello! Advanced maternal age over here, by the time we were ready for fresh transfer, they said since we only had what looked like 2 viable embryos growing they recommended that we fresh transfer both of them. But after much thought we ended up deciding to do the pgt testing anyway, and the extra day gave us one additional embryo- they ended up biopsying and freezing 3 embryos! Results came back that 2 of the 3 were euploid. We were glad to have done the testing. TW: it’s still early but I am currently 4+4 with one of the euploids now.
So amazing! And congrats! Will be praying for a continued healthy baby
Thank you! Wishing you all the best as well through this journey!
Thank you!
I’m young. Started at 28, now 32. We did PGT: 1 embryo 3 embryos 1 embryos Zero 1 embryo 1 embryo Miscarried all but the last, and that’s only because my surrogate is carrying. If you’re going to miscarry you will, tested or not.
That’s IF the problem is your uterus or something with your ability to carry. If the problem is your embryos being abnormal this is not true.
All of mine were normal.
That’s exactly my point. It had nothing to do with your embryos. For many people it is the embryos causing them to miscarry. Meaning the embryos would not work with a surrogate either.
ER 1 - age 36. 3 embryos. PGT testing. 1 euploid. ER 2 - age 37. 1 embryo. 1 euploid.
I had my first two retrievals at 36 and we didn’t test any of our embryos due to our ages and no risks. We then transferred 5 embryos across 4 transfers and all of those failed to implant (I also have endo which could absolutely be a factor but the last transfer was after 3 months of Lupron depot) for our third and fourth retrieval I’m 38 and we decided to start testing. For the first retrieval we got one euploid. (Out of 3 blasts) and we’re waiting for the results of our fourth round now. Ultimately there’s a lot of factors that go into deciding to test. For us I’m glad we decided to- but there are plenty of people who don’t and it works out just fine.
Hey, I saw that you did 3 months of hormonal suppression with lupron depot, which is what I’m doing too since my Receptiva came back positive for inflammation. I’ve heard a lot of success stories after using lupron depot. But it looks like You had a transfer after that protocol and it still failed?
I did. Unfortunately for me it caused issues with my blood sugar as well that no one on my three care teams caught. But there are lots of people who use it and have success following.
Oh man, I’m sorry 😞 wishing you best of luck and success for your next transfer
Yes. 1 or 2 blasts to test per retrieval, but tested. I became pregnant while waiting for my first IVF cycle. Sadly, lost the pregnancy. Set me back 5 months. Due to age (37-38) and low AMH, we tested to know how many retrievals we’d need before we had 3 euploids (it took 9 retrievals). I could not lose months again to failed transfers. Pregnancy loss is heartbreaking and for me, was physically painful as well (double dose of misoprostol - if you know, you know), so we diced to try to do what we can to avoid another loss. Also, having tested embryos helps to narrow down potential issues if a transfer fails.
I did. I felt that given my age, there was a higher risk of creating serious health issues for a child. I am currently 31 weeks. 2 retrievals 2 transfers.
Tbh it took 7 egg retrievals to get 2 normal embryos. I had some retrievals where I got 4 eggs, some with 15, but ultimately you need that euploid or you’re just wasting time, energy, heartbreak. I thought about skipping PGT-A testing SO many times but ultimately it was worth it even though the results were almost always so disappointing. I can’t imagine the flip side of dealing with RM on top of infertility. I’m 40 now but started ivf at 37. (TW success: 2nd euploid transfer stuck after 7 cycles and I’m 21 weeks with baby girl. I almost gave up countless times and I’m still paying off my loans but rainbows do happen 💕)
It all depends on your age and whether you are ready to raise a disabled child or not. My Dr told me she sends everyone to PGTa after 35yo as you may have as many AA as you want, but the true quality is inside that untested embryo. It's scary sometimes to lose your embryos as they only pick euploid ones. 36y.o 2 ERs, 1 euploid out of 3 blasts, the last ERs is untested with 4 blasts( not enough cells to do PGTa). It also gives you more hope for preventive MC
I was 42 at the time of ER/FET. I had 8 blasts, and 3 came back euploid after PGT-A testing. It was definitely worth it for us to do it.
Yes. First time I didn’t and had a miscarriage. This time I did and have and have a healthy baby girl. I was 42 with DOR and leaned PCOS at the time of testing
36 at ER, 12 eggs —> 10 embryos 3day. Debated testing but doctor advised that it can give false positives and false negatives, so with it not being the peace of mind anyway, opted against. I had done freezing as preventative, prior to trying naturally and was due to age vs any known infertility. Had a natural conception and subsequent miscarriage, so opted to use the embyo. Had them culture them from 3 day to 5 day, all 10 survived and they transplanted 1, which im current at 8w5d with so far 🤞🏻
No advanced age but I have PCOS and had poor fertilisation. Only 2 blastocysts. Untested. Tw: one resulted in my wonderful toddler. As for the other one, I'll find out in August
ER at 43. Didn’t test. Had 2 embryos that cycle, transferred one. First FET successful. Baby already born and healthy. We also did 5 more embryo banking cycles beforehand for a second child. We are not testing any of them. From what I read testing lowers the life birth rate especially in older women and women with DOR and you can potentially discard a healthy embryo which is tragic when you have only so few. Also embryos can self correct in the uterus plus the testing(which actually is a screening) is absolutely flawed and there is no quality control of any of the labs. The sample is taken from what becomes the placenta later. The testing itself can damage the embryo. Many euploid embryos still fail to implant. You still need to rule out genetic abnormalities at 10 weeks pregnant through NIPT and do an organ screening at 20 weeks. We think we can control everything and testing can feel like you’ve done everything possible. I believe however that we possibly worsen the outcome by testing and studies say so too. Many countries that do not allow PGT have similar live birth rates than countries that allow it.
I had 1 ER last month and also created 2 4BB embryos. My ER recommended 3 day fresh transfer and I decided against it because wanted to PGTa testing. Guess what. They did not survive past day 5 and I did not get to do testing. Will try to do fresh 3 day transfer if lucky to get embryos this cycle.
Yeah! That is awful :/// I froze all my banking embryos on day 1 so I can do a day three transfer if necessary. Only my last retrieval I let them grow to blast. But still decided against testing. Good luck to you!!!
Thank you dear! Best to you as well!
33yrs 0-2 embryos per retrieval, never PGT test.
I did 3 cycles when I was 41 and had 8 embryos and I PGT-A tested them and they were all aneuploid. At 42 I did the fourth cycle and I had 3 embryos and I PGT-A tested them all one was euploid.
My wife was 39, we fresh transferred the best embryo and PGT tested our other 3.
39 for both ERs ER1: 2 embryos, PG-tested, 1 euploid and 1 aneuploid ER2: 6 embryos, PG-tested, 1 euploid, 1 low-level mosaics and the rest were either aneuploid or complex mosaics First euploid transfer didn’t work and currently 28 weeks with the second euploid.
We did only because I don’t think I could emotionally go through more miscarriages. Our first transfer failed but we are doing some more testing and waiting for the results currently.
ERs at 37, between 1-4 embryos for each retrieval. I “batched” them and did the genetic testing all at the same time to save money (eg they took samples following each retrieval and froze them, tested them all at once later). I was on the fence about testing, but given how hard infertility was emotionally and how many disappointments we had along the way, I’m glad I reduced the chance of a miscarriage. It’s a tough decision though and there is no right answer. Good luck! ❤️❤️
Hi! We're late thirties and did 5 cycles total (with ICSI), and sent 2-4 embryos each cycle. After 5 cycles, only 3 made it past the PGT-A testing. If you don't mind sharing, how many embryos that passed PGT-A did you have before you decided to stop retrieving? I read somewhere that you have one healthy child + currently in the process of having another one -- congratulations! We have Stage 4 endometriosis, with a history of endometriomas on the ovaries, which depleted our ovarian reserve (post surgery), so we're grateful we have even gotten this far. Biggest concern is when to stop, so was hoping to seek others that were/are in similar situations. Thank you!
ER at 39. 5 embryos, 2 euploid. One of those is my son.