In accordance with the Quality Management System, processes for chromosome screening of high quality

It is possible to analyse biopsied cells from an embryo before implantation to determine whether or not there are any chromosomal abnormalities. This is done in order to prevent implanting embryos that will either not result in a healthy pregnancy or will result in a miscarriage or a diagnosis later in the pregnancy as a consequence of the pregnancy. As a woman ages, the kinds of chromosomal errors she is susceptible to become more complicated and frequent. This explains why elderly women have lower pregnancy rates and suffer more losses than their younger counterparts.

With the knowledge that all women and men have some chromosomally faulty sperm and eggs in their bodies, the chance of chromosomal errors rises with age and the health history of the parents, especially the age of the mother.

This method is often used to identify the underlying reason of "unexplained infertility" in younger women, particularly those under the age of 35.

When does it come into play, specifically?

A thorough chromosomal screening procedure is used to treat infertility caused by advanced maternal age (more than 35 years), recurrent miscarriage, poor ovarian capacity in younger women, embryo preservation in gender selection, family building, or other unsuccessful reproductive treatments. Having CCS may be beneficial for a variety of reasons, including reducing the possibility of terminating a pregnancy later in pregnancy owing to a chromosomal abnormality in a child. The last reason is that a small number of patients choose for CCS in order to preserve high pregnancy rates while reducing the risk of multiple growth pregnancies by transferring just one embryo at a time.

So, when is it really put to use?

A PGD procedure may be recommended instead of comprehensive chromosome screening for couples who have or are carriers of a known genetic condition that has the potential to cause disability or disease in their children, such as muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis; and also for couples who have previously corrected translocations.

Is it feasible for this treatment to distinguish between unaffected and potential carrier embryos? It may be possible for a family to prevent passing on a particular mutation to future generations if they can identify unaffected non-carrier embryos during the screening process.

Conclusion: The full chromosomal screening approach described here eliminates many of the problems that have hitherto hindered aneuploidy screening techniques, and it may finally enable preimplantation genetic screening to realize the theoretical advantages that have been promised.

This high percentage of embryo implantation obtained is very promising, and if it is verified in future studies, it will be of tremendous importance for IVF clinics trying to decrease the number of embryos transplanted or implementing single embryo transfer procedures.