Chance of success of PGT

What can you do yourself to increase your chance of success?

There are a number of things that you – and here we are speaking mainly about the woman – can do to promote the success of your treatment:

  • You can start immediately by taking folic acid pills. That food supplement to a large extent reduces the risk of spina bifida or cleft lip/palate in the baby.
  • Do you smoke? Then it is absolutely recommended that you stop smoking before you start the treatment and that of course you continue to abstain from smoking if you are pregnant.
  • Are you overweight? If you try to get rid of the extra kilos before you try to get pregnant, you will increase the chance of success of your treatment.
  • As soon as you consider becoming pregnant, it would be best to refrain from all alcohol. By so doing you protect the young embryo and the baby from the possible risk of FAS, foetal alcohol syndrome.

Are you looking for more tips? Then definitely read the brochure  'Health advice if you want a baby: What can you do yourself?'

What is the chance success of PGT?

The ultimate chance of success depends on various factors:

  • In ICSI each egg cell is injected into the dish with one sperm cell. With this technique around ninety per cent of the egg cells collected are fertilised. They develop into an embryo.
  • However, some embryos do not survive the removal of one or two or more cells.
  • Then there are embryos which carry the genetic condition and are therefore not eligible for replacement.
  • Also in some embryos the diagnosis cannot be made and some are not morphologically good enough to be replaced.
  • Finally an ICSI embryo does not always become implanted in the womb: not every embryo that is placed therefore results in a pregnancy.

All in all the likelihood that you will become pregnant after a PGT treatment is on average twenty to forty per cent.

It is, however, difficult to make a generally valid prediction because the chance of success varies widely from one individual to another. It also depends on:

  • Your age (that of the woman)
  • The number of eggs obtained
  • The quality of the embryo(s) replaced
  • The nature of the genetic abnormality

Your individual chance of success is therefore discussed during the consultation with the geneticist and the fertility gynaecologist.