Courtesy of the Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area,
Multicolor Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH) can detect chromosomal abnormalities, such as aneuploidy, in cells removed from a developing embryo.
Fast improving techniques for detecting genetic and chromosomal abnormalities via preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) may boost the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Some clinics report a twofold to threefold higher take-home baby rate when PGD is used and have begun prescribing the costly procedure regularly. PGD provides an alternative to traditional prenatal diagnostic techniques such as amniocentesis, and it also may avert some difficult abortion decisions and ensure that a healthy embryo is selected prior to implantation.
Yet questions remain over the risks posed by IVF, and PGD introduces an additional risk factor because it involves extraction of a single cell, or blastomere, from the early embryo. Regardless, some clinics prescribe the procedure indiscriminately to ...
