PGT-A testing anyone trying to decide or made the decision?

[Flowerlover010]

Hi just want to hear from anyone trying to decide whether to do PGT-A testing or has decided to do it or not to do it. Or someone who found it successful?

Hi OP, we did it, on our only embryo as we had a miscarriage previously and couldn’t face going through that again. I’m 25 weeks pregnant now, touch wood. I can’t tell you the relief I’ve felt with it being PGTA tested, I have already had anxiety during this pregnancy since I can’t quite believe it’s worked but I would have been a complete mess thinking I would have another miscarriage if we hadn’t done PGTA testing. It really has helped give peace of mind.

In our case our issues were clearly poor quality eggs and sperm, so it does depend on the cause of infertility. We ruled out thyroid issues, lining issues etc….I didn’t even bleed with the miscarriage till several weeks after so the lining was trying to hold the embryo, it just didn’t grow. Our doctor said it was highly likely given the circumstances that our embryo was abnormal which is why I didn’t want to risk it again. Wholeheartedly disagree with HFEA’s red light rating for PGTA. IVF is exhausting and some women may not have the emotional energy to keep going after failed transfers or miscarriages. I think if the doctor had identified the issue is most likely due to abnormal embryos, PGTA helps avoid these situations and lets women get to the successful transfer quicker. Please let me know if you have any other questions. It was the single best decision we made - to test.

Hello 👋🏼

We got our day 5 call this morning and have 6 blastocysts and have sent them all for pgta testing. I agonised over this decision for a long time but I've had a missed miscarriage and 2 chemical pregnancies and did not want to go through the trauma (and time) of having more losses. We will see if it's worth it or not! The consultant said that it takes our chances of success from 50% to 70%.

@summerpoolandsun omg you have no idea how much your message means to me. Thank you so much that has helped my decision a lot. Ive had 3 miscarriages and i am struggling with every decision on this IVF process and its just nice to get another opinion.

@browneyedgirl626 thank you so much for your reply and info that helps a lot. Good luck!

Hi @Flowerlover010, first of all I am really sorry to hear about your losses and you having to find yourself in this position in the first place.
Afyer 4 consecutive miscarriages from natural pregnancies and test that ruled every other possible cause, the assumption is there’s an issue of egg quality.
I could not face another miscarriage, especially since the last two were MMC which required surgery and tests confirmed in both cases the embryo had chromosome abnormalities, we decided to have IVF and have the embryos tested.
We haven’t got to embryo transfer yet as waiting for entometrial tests results just to rule out every possible deterrents to implantation, but from the egg collection cycle we got 5 blastocysts, 3 confirmed abnormal, 1 normal which we’ll transfer and one very unfortunately inconclusive, which we’re keeping on ice for now.
One thing I will say in favour of PGTA is the 3 that tested abnormal were the 3 best graded ones, in a normal IVF cycle they would have been transferred first and either failed to implant or resulted in further miscarriages so here’s to the benefit of PGTA in my opinion.
I won’t really know if this has really worked out for us until after transfer of course, but for sure this has at least save me up to 3 more miscarriages.
Whatever you decide I hope it works out for you

@clhiu thank you for your message. I wish you the best of luck!

@summerpoolandsun @clhiu - can I ask how many days it takes for the results of the PGTA tests to come through? Will the results arrive on time to enable a PGTA informed transfer the very next cycle?

Hello @CDiamond

It takes around 2 weeks for results to come back usually - or at least that’s the timescale I was given by my clinic - plus you’d usually need a follow-up consultation to discuss next steps and recommended treatment plan for FET once results are back and and sign additional consent and paperwork so I’d say no unfortunately, it’s unlikely you’d be able to go straight from egg collection + PGTA testing to FET in the next cycle, but the one after is perfectly possible, depending on outcome and recommended plan.

In my case it’s taking way longer and I still
haven’t got confirmation of FET cycle despite getting my PGTA results mid December. This is because I ended up with just one single confirmed euploid embryo, which is also low grade (6B-C) so my consultant recommended all sorts of additional tests to my endometrium, uterus and immune system just to rule out any other possible issues and give this one very precious embryo the absolute best chance. Results of these tests should be back by now and have my follow-up appointment to disucss this week so hoping there’s no further obstacles and she tells me we can finally go to FET in my next cycle.

Hello @CDiamond We were told it could take up to 3 weeks but we actually got the result a week later. So I guess potentially you could have the transfer next cycle if your clinic also gave you a result within a week but it would be very tight and not guaranteed. I definitely think you’d be able to transfer the following cycle though

A week after our 5 day blastocyst was biopsied and cells sent off for testing…

Hello all, can I hop on and ask some questions?

I had my first cycle in November and got 2 blastocysts from 10 eggs. The first transfer failed and I found out on Friday that the second transfer is a missed miscarriage at 9+3. The embryo was only measuring 6+3.

I'm so torn over PGT-A testing. I won't ever know why the first transfer failed, but the second clearly had developmental issues. So that's probably zero normal blastocysts from 10 eggs. I know it's a snapshot because it was just one round, but I'm scared that all the eggs I have left are just shit.

I've also read that apparently abnormal embryos can self correct after transfer. I don't know how true this is. So if we have another round, end up again with only one or two blastocysts and do PGT-A testing, we might end up with no viable blastocysts, and what if one could have self corrected? I also don't want to go through another miscarriage. I just don't know what to do for the best.

What would others do in my position? I'm 39. Part of me thinks no more IVF at all and just let nature take its course.

Hi @countrypunk I am really sorry you're pregnancy didn't work out. I had a mmc which stopped growing at 6+2 but didn't find out until 12 week scan. It's very hard, sending you a hug.

Was your ivf round your first one? My thoughts are that potentially your protocol could be tweaked which might give you more embryos to work with? If you did another round and got 2 again however, I wouldn't pgta test and would put both back in. I personally chose to pgta test mine (waiting for results) as I got 6 embryos and so hopefully by finding one (if I'm lucky) euploid might avoid time/cost/emotional toll of transferring aneuploid embryos and having more losses. Re: the research, it's a bit unclear because some papers have lumped together mosaic and aneuploid and shown that some live births were achieved however apparently there is a 2021 study which shows clearly that 0 live births were achieved from aneuploid embryos. The self correcting mechanism can happen with mosaics. It is a difficult decision to make, whether to genetically test or not, but I've had previous losses and would rather have nothing to transfer back than have more miscarriages.

I read somewhere that up to 80% of pregnancy losses occur due to chromosomal issues. Having a euploid embryo does not guarantee a live birth but it does increase your chances.

Would you consider embryo batching with pgta?

Xx

@browneyedgirl626 Thank you. I was OK on Friday after the scan but today I don't seem to be able to stop crying. It just seems so cruel to climb the infertility mountain and then have the pregnancy snatched away like that.

It was my first round, yes. I was on low to mid stims. I've read that mild IVF might be better for women like me but it's very hard to find impartial advice. I just really really want to do the very best thing for my specific situation next time, but I don't trust the clinics to care for me as an individual. I probably just haven't had a very good experience with my first clinic.

I would definitely consider embryo batching with PGT-A.

Thanks so much for your advice. I don't suppose you could send me the link to the study you mentioned?

Good luck for your testing results 💜

Xx

@countrypunk It is so cruel and truly emotionally draining. Take the time you need ❤️

It was on a previous MN discussion -

PGT-A. How many blasts did you have tested? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/4382651-pgt-a-how-many-blasts-did-you-have-tested

perkinelmer-appliedgenomics.com/2020/06/09/data-supporting-pgt-a/

Bear in mind though the paper is written by a genomics corporation however so they might have any agenda to push pgta 🥴 It's hard to get non biased information in the fertility world. From what I've read on pgta it's a selection tool more than anything x

@browneyedgirl626 Thank you, that thread is really helpful and enlightening. This will massively help us decide what to do depending on numbers after our next round.

Thank you again x

@countrypunk I am so very sorry about your missed miscarriage. Similar circumstances for us. We were trying for 3.5 years with no hint of a BFP, we got one ‘decent’ embryo from 14 eggs in our first round of IVF, a positive with a great beta but no heartbeat at 7 weeks viability and fetal pole measured 5 weeks. I had no signs of miscarriage.

I say one decent embryo from the first cycle because we did have another, it was 5 cells at day 3 and didn’t become a blastocyst until day 6 when it was graded 5CC but the embryologist said it was bordering a DD. We didn’t use it because it wasn’t tested. And we were adamant after the miscarriage that we wanted to test before putting an embryo back in. We will donate it to science. In our second cycle we also got a 6 day 5CC but it degenerated to a DD before the embryologist could biopsy it. And then we got our one healthy embryo out all 29 eggs which was a tested 4BB 🙏

It’s a very very personal decision. We are very very lucky to have one child who we conceived naturally 9 years ago so maybe we were less willing to take a risk but to be honest I really think we would have tested regardless…I am an anxious person and after our miscarriage with a so called ‘excellent’ embryo (it was a 4AA), I just couldn’t bear putting anything back inside me unless it’d been tested. I have read mosaic embryos can self-correct but I think the proportion is small and I just wasn’t prepared to take the risk of that not being the case, I know I would have spent my entire pregnancy thinking something was wrong with the baby and I would miscarry which would have driven me mad…I also felt like all my eggs were shit and DH’s sperm were shit as out of 14 eggs in the first round we only got one decent blastocyst, out of 15 eggs in the second round we only got one blastocyst again. So it made me want to check that even this one was normal. I had no faith in my body producing a normal embryo at all.

These are all very personal decisions though and I’m just talking about what I would do. I needed confidence in my body and in the embryo, maybe it’s naive but PGTA was the only thing that’s given me that. It’s not foolproof and something still might go wrong, I might end up eating my words, but after years of secondary infertility and our ‘perfect’ embryo leading to a miscarriage I needed something to give me faith that this pregnancy wouldn’t be another failure…I think by doing PGTA it helped my mental health more than anything.

I wish you every success @Flowerlover010 I really hope your next cycle is the one you take home your baby from. Wishing you so so much luck x

@summerpoolandsun Thank you. Very similar situation - we were told the pregnancy wasn't viable at the 7 week scan, but then had a 3 week rollercoaster at the EPU because they detected a heartbeat and the embryo grew. Until it stopped. And every medical professional we saw refused to say we were probably going to lose the pregnancy. I'm quite angry about that. I did loads of my own research so knew our chances were very low, but if I hadn't it would have been a horrible shock when it eventually ended.

Thank you for sharing all of that, it's so helpful to read about your experiences and decisions. I completely relate to what you say. I was already sure that there were chromosomal issues with the pregnancy because we were measuring 2 weeks behind, so like you if the pregnancy had continued I would have spent the entire time worrying. Mixed in with the sadness was a little bit of relief. It's been so stressful.

Thank you again for sharing. What stage are you at now?

@countrypunk I can completely relate to your circumstances and I am so sorry you are going through it. Your situation is even more cruel because EPU detected a heartbeat. I wrote the brief version of our miscarriage but the full version was I got a great beta of about 250 at 11DPO then 7 days later it was only 950. I went back to test it as I didn’t have any pregnancy symptoms and I wanted ‘to put my mind at rest’. It did anything but. Like you I had two weeks of back and forth at EPU with them ‘waiting to see’ if the embryo would grow and my HCG slowly climbing. It was torture. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think. At the 7 week scan when she said there was no heartbeat, I said can I drop the medication now because everybody has told me to continue despite this pregnancy having been non-viable for weeks. She said it would be completely unethical for me to tell you to keep going with the medication and I should definitely stop taking the cyclogest now…I guess if there is a shadow of a doubt EPU have to tell you to keep going with the medication but it was soul-destroying. Maybe 1 in every 10000 pregnancies work in these circumstances, I really don’t know…

I am really so sorry you’re in the middle of this right now, it’s hell. I miscarried last January and we had our second egg collection in March. We got the result that our 4BB was normal and granted ourselves a six month break to relax and mentally be ready for transfer. Then in September we transferred our embryo, and touch wood, all has gone well, I’m 26 weeks pregnant now. Never ever thought we would get to this point but somehow we did.

Sorry that should say miscarried January 2022, egg collection Mar 2022 and transfer Sep 2022 x

@summerpoolandsun That is so SO wonderful to read. Congratulations 💜Right now I feel like I'm never going to have a baby so reading your story gives me some hope. I'd like to have an IVF break but at 39 I can practically see the sand running through the hourglass!

I had no idea about any of this before I started IVF. No idea that blastocysts could be abnormal, no idea really about MMC, no idea that the stress doesn't stop when you get a positive pregnancy test. So naive and clueless. I'm sorry, I sound utterly depressed - I am actually coping quite well!

I'm so sorry for your experiences too. But it helps hugely to know I'm not alone.

I hope you're managing to enjoy your pregnancy. I'm sure the anxiety doesn't ever quite leave, but I hope it lessens the further along you get. Xx

@countrypunk Thank you for your lovely message. Its true the anxiety never quite leaves, but yes it does subside as the weeks have gone on 🙏

Wishing you so much luck, I hope that your next cycle is the one which gives you your baby and and all this heartache falls into the background with time ❤️❤️❤️

@browbrowneyedgirl626 hey how are you getting on if you dont mind me asking?

@Flowerlover010 hello, out of the 6 tested embryos 2 came back normal, 3 abnormal and 1 no result. We can retest the no result at some point I think. I had one of the normal embryos transferred on 1st April and I'm 7 weeks pregnant now, it seems ok so far, everything is measuring well. I'm also on immune treatment which could be the thing that helped it to successfully implant, who knows.

My clinic had a very quick turnaround for pgta testing, I was told it would take 2 weeks but I got the results in a week which is why I could move to transfer so quickly. I don't think it's like that everywhere.

How are you getting on? Did you make a decision about pgta?

@browneyedgirl626 omg that's absolutely amazing! Congratulations!! And youve got one in the bank then! A week turnaround is amazing to. Mine told me 2 weeks so heres hoping. I am still waiting to start treatment so still a fair way behind. So glad to hear it worked well for you. Fingers crossed for a continuing smooth and healthy pregnancy x