The Utility of Preimplantation Genetic Test in Couples with History of Infertility and Pregnancy Loss

Abstract

Preimplantation genetic test (PGT) is cutting-edge technology for early detection of genetic abnormalities in embryos prior to their implantation in the uterus. PGT prevents the transfer of affected embryos during in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures and termination of pregnancy. In our study we report the results from 185 couples with history of infertility and pregnancy loss that had undergone IVF procedures with PGT. Trophectoderm biopsy was carried out on 497 blastocyst stage embryos originating from 231 oocyte retrieval cycles. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were subsequently performed. One hundred and ninety-six embryos had balanced profile (40.16%) and 292 embryos showed unbalanced profile (59.84%). Embryo transfer was performed in 109 cases (58.92%) and biochemical pregnancy was reported in 33.03%. Live birth rate was 29.36% and pregnancy loss occurred in 3.67% of cases. Our results show that PGT reduces the number of meaningless transfers, eliminates the trauma of termination of desired pregnancy and possible medical complications. In couples with reproductive failure PGT decreases the risk for pregnancy loss, increases the chance of conceiving with a chromosomally balanced embryo and live birth of a healthy offspring per transfer.