PGD Gender Selection is a technique that possible to determine the sex of embryos resulting from IVF and then ensure that embryos of a particular sex are transferred back into the uterus. This allows couples to attempt to choose the sex of their baby in advance of pregnancy. In particular, genetic disorders in a previous child or family member (such as a prior history of Down’s syndrome, Edward’s syndrome, Patau’s syndrome) and all women over the age of 35 may benefit from various types of PGD.

The Procedure
Gender selection requires the patient to undergo an IVF cycle during which oocytes are collected and embryos developed. Five days after egg collection, embryos usually grow to the Blastocyst stage which consists of 120 to 150 cells. The cells inside the Blastocyst are differentiated as placental cells and fetal cells. Removal of 5-10 cells from the placental cells for assessment does not alter the ability of that embryo to develop into a complete normal pregnancy.

The removed cells are analyzed for 13, 18, 21, X and Y chromosomes using the fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. Then those embryos that are determined to be of the desired sex and free of genetic disorders are transferred back to the uterus at the blastocyst stage of embryonic development on day 6 after oocyte retrieval.

PGD is a safe and reliable method
There is no evidence that PGD leads to an increase in birth defects or chromosomal disorders. PGD is done on Day 5. FISH probes for X and Y are used to determine the gender of each embryo while probes for 21, 18, and 13 chromosomes are use to determine Down’s syndrome, Edward’s syndrome, and Patau’s syndrome.

  

Picture of cells under a super microscope: A normal cell should show 2 FISH signals (small dot color) for the numbered chromosome, and either 2 X signals for a female (2 pink dots) or 1 X and 1 Y signal for a male (pink and green dots).





The abnormal cell which has 3 FISH signals show genetic disorder such as Down’s syndrome (3 signal of probes 21), Edward’s syndrome (3 signal of probes 18), and Patau’s syndrome (3 signal of probes 13).