CHENNAI,– July 25, 2019 –Infertility is a public health problem that occurs during the reproductive age, affecting around 10-15% of couples attempting to achieve pregnancy, worldwide . For many couples, the inability to bear children leads to serious physical, social, psychological and sexual dysfunction in their lives. Recurrent pregnancy loss is a type of secondary infertility that has recently been redefined by American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) as two or more pregnancy losses.
The field of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is growing every day with new technological advances like pre- implantation Genetic testing which can help couples facing recurrent pregnancy loss owing to genetic abnormalities in the embryos.
Discussing the possible causes for recurrent pregnancy loss at a press meet held today, Dr Krithika Devi, Fertility Consultant, NOVA IVI Fertility, Chennai commented,“ Most pregnancy losses in the first trimester result from chromosomal, or genetic abnormalities, and are random events. The abnormality may come from the egg, the sperm, or the early embryo. In such cases, advanced ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) techniques like PGT-A (Pre-Implantation Genetic Testing for aneuploidies) help screen and eliminate embryos with abnormal chromosomes and choose a normal embryo thus reducing the chances of a subsequent pregnancy loss.”
In one of the cases, Mr & Mrs Rajesh (39 years and 35 years of age respectively) married for 7 years were struggling to have a healthy pregnancy and have a child. Their past history showed that Mrs Rajesh have had 2 prior miscarriages five years earlier, despite regular menstrual cycles. The couple also revealed that they had undergone a self-ICSI in another hospital one year back, and underwent two embryo transfer cycles where implantation failed in first transfer and miscarriage followed in the 6thweek of conception in the second transfer. After the embryo transfer failures, Mrs. Rajesh underwent a DHL (Diagnostic Hysterolaparoscopy) and was said to be normal.
The couple then came to NOVA IVI Fertility, Chennai for an IVF treatment, and were advised to undergo a second cycle of ICSI with PGT-A to detect abnormalities (if any). The patient was stimulated at the centre for ICSI, and 16 oocytes were obtained, out of which four matured to become blastocyst embryos. On the 5th day, all the four embryos formed were biopsied for Pre-Implantation Genetic Testing for aneuploidies (PGT-A). It was found that only one out of 4 blastocysts was chromosomally normal (euploid). The single normal embryo was transferred and the patient conceived in the same cycle. Pregnancy continued till term and she delivered a healthy baby boy of 3.3 kgs much to the happiness of the couple and the Nova Team.
Pre-implantation Genetic Testing – Aneuploidy
PGT-A is a last generation genetic test that allows screening for chromosomal abnormalities in embryos during an IVF cycle. This procedure allows us to analyse all 24 chromosome types using generation sequencing (NGS), in order to discard the possibility of embryonic aneuploidy before implantation which is the leading cause for miscarriages and implantation failure. An abnormal embryo almost always fails to implant, or even if it does, the pregnancy ends in a biochemical pregnancy, miscarriage, foetal death later in pregnancy, stillbirth or a baby with abnormalities. The test is performed on embryos prior to being transferred into the uterus. By analysing all embryos generated in an IVF treatment cycle, those free of chromosomal aneuploidy can be identified for selective transfer.
Benefits of PGT-A
- Higher chance of a fruitful term pregnancy and reduces the agony of a miscarriage which could be physically and mentally devastating
- Reduced number of IVF cycles needed to achieve pregnancy, potentially reducing the time to pregnancy and the costs of extra cycles
- More confidence in transferring a single embryo, avoiding health risks associated with twin or triplet pregnancies
Adding further, Dr Krithika Devi said, “Only those embryos presenting no abnormalities in terms of the number of chromosomes lead to the birth of a healthy child. Therefore, when working with good embryos, we use the PGT techniques to select chromosomally normal embryos and rule out the ones which would fail to implant or causes miscarriage at a later stage.”
Nova IVI Fertility (NIF) is among the largest service providers in the fertility space and has successfully achieved over 25,000 clinical pregnancies through IVF.
About Nova IVI Fertility
Nova IVI Fertility (NIF) is the among the largest service providers in the fertility space. NIF aims to bring advanced Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) to India in partnership with IVI of Spain. The partnership has resulted in a substantial addition to Nova’s IVF services and technology, including proprietary software, training, and quality management. With IVI’s know-how and vast international expertise, NIF brings the same exceptional standard of processes, protocols, and policies to India.
In addition to providing core procedures such as IUI, IVF, ICSI and Andrology services, NIF offers several state-of-the-art technologies such as Vitrification for preserving embryos and eggs, ERA to find out the timing of the uterus’ capacity to accept embryos, PGS and PGD for the transfer of genetically normal embryos – all procedures that significantly improve the chances of a pregnancy following IVF-ICSI, even in patients with multiple previous failures. NIF currently operates 20 fertility centres in India (Ahmedabad (2), Bengaluru (3), Chennai, Coimbatore, Hisar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai (2), New Delhi (2), Pune, Surat, and Vijayawada).
