Treatments
Description of available treatments
IVF/ICSI treatments
PGS/PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and Preimplantation Genetic Screening)
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) are very early methods of prenatal diagnosis which were designed for couples who are at risk of transmitting an inherited disease to their children because of chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosome abnormalities are a major category of genetic disease. Chromosome abnormalities account for a large proportion of reproductive wastage, congenital malformations and mental retardation. A chromosome abnormality reflects an abnormality of chromosome number or structure. Chromosome abnormalities usually occur when there is an error in cell division. There are many types of chromosome abnormalities which can be organized into two basic groups, numerical and structural abnormalities. PGD is used to treat structural abnormalities whereas PGS is used to help patients avoid having babies with numerical abnormalities .
The major advantage of PGD is for couples to avoid going through the stress of an abortion or a miscarriage due to an abnormal pregnancy. The aim of PGS is to improve the pregnancy rate and to reduce the risk of miscarriage.
London Fertility Centre is licensed by the HFEA to treat patients that carry any chromosomal abnormality either numerical or structural. We are expanding our license to include single gene disorders for diseases like cystic fibrosis, thalassaemia and myotonic dystrophy. IVF is a process that might cause patient anxiety, therefore especially for PGD and PGS procedures we try to assist our patients in each step of the treatment.
Recently, LFC has obtained an HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) license to perform PGS using Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (CGH). By utilising CGH we are able to screen all 23 pairs of chromosomes within an embryo.
PGS with CGH info sheet
PGD Translocation info sheet
PGD Thal info sheet
PGD – Sickle Cell Anaemia