In the present world, women are pursuing higher education and reaching new heights professionally. So, it isn't easy to make a work-life balance. Therefore, women are planning babies in their late 30s and even 40s. Some women may take longer to find a suitable life partner. The woman is born with a fixed number of eggs, which is unlike males. As she ages, the quality and quantity of her eggs decline. The peak reproductive potential of a woman is between 20 to 30 years of age. A healthy woman before 30 has a 20% chance of natural conception every month. Fertility declines rapidly after the mid-thirties. By 40, there is less than 5% chance of natural conception every month. Also, unhealthy lifestyles, environmental factors, consumption of junk foods, alcohol, smoking, obesity and many other factors further make it difficult to conceive naturally.
The risk for chromosome problems in babies increases with maternal age. The chance of having a child with Down syndrome is about 1 in 1,250 in women of age 25 years. It increases to about 1 in 100 in women of 40 years. Most of the first trimester abortions happen because of a chromosome abnormality in the baby. As the risk of chromosome abnormalities in a baby increases with the mother's age, the miscarriage rate also rises. Women of advanced age also have a greater chance of developing high blood pressure, diabetes during pregnancy, and low birth weight. There can be problems in delivery, resulting in a higher chance of caesarean birth.
So, when women of the present world struggle to conceive and have reached 35 years of age, they meet their doctor for fertility advice, and the first question that comes to their mind is what is the chance of having an abnormal child at this age to avoid such risks.
Abnormal babies occur due to abnormal embryos. So, if we transfer healthy embryos, the risk of having an abnormal baby is minimal. PGT (Preimplantation Genetic Testing) is an advanced genetic testing of embryos formed by IVF that can reduce the probability of having an abnormal embryo.
Aneuploid embryos (embryos that have an abnormal number of chromosomes) can cause abnormal babies and miscarriages. PGT can help in selecting euploid embryos (embryos with a normal number of chromosomes), which reduces the chance of having a child with an abnormality.
PGT is also useful for couples with recurrent miscarriages, multiple IVF failures, advanced maternal age, couples who already have a child with chromosomal abnormalities, and couples with a family history of genetic disorders.
During IVF, eggs retrieved from the female partner and sperm collected from the male partner are fertilized in the lab, and an embryo is formed. These embryos are developed until the blastocyst stage in the lab. At this stage, a biopsy is done, wherein a small number of cells are removed from the embryo and tested for any genetic abnormality. The embryos are frozen and stored while the screening of chromosomes is performed. Only those embryos without any abnormality are transferred into the woman's uterus.
How can PGT help?
So, with the help of PGT, we can select genetically normal embryos in patients who already have a known history of some genetic issues or in females of advanced age who are at risk of having abnormal embryos. Your fertility doctor can guide you through this advanced process, which can be of great help.
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