Safety of PGT

In PGT one and sometimes two or even more cells are removed carefully from an embryo with eight or more cells. After the procedure the embryo generally remains unharmed and continues to develop normally.

Research carried out worldwide and in this hospital currently leads to the following conclusions:

• From the post-natal monitoring of the first 1000 babies born at the UZ Brussel after a PGT treatment, the vast majority have been born healthy. Generally they are at least as healthy as babies born after ‘ordinary’ IVF, whether with ICSI or not. Of these babies the Centre for Medical Genetics (CMG) has seen three hundred at two years of age. Compared with just as many ICSI babies and babies born after natural conception they are just as healthy and show comparable development.
   
• Data from the PGT consortium of ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) confirms that the health of newborn PGT children is comparable with that of ICSI and IVF children. Carrying out an embryo biopsy is therefore not accompanied by an increased risk of malformations.

Further follow-up studies continue, however, to be necessary, certainly in the long term. All couples who become pregnant through a PGT treatment are therefore also asked to take part with their baby (babies) in the CMG’s follow-up programme.