Error Rate for Gender

[desperatefordresses]

Maybe this has been asked (and I apologize if it has), but what exactly is the percent certainty for gender when doing PGD?

I read that a false gender could happen because of three things: the Y did not anneal and the X signal split, mosaicism, or lab error.

I have heard as high as 99.99% and as low as 93% for gender. Does it just depend on the lab?

Thank you so much for your time!

[Carole]

Dear desperate for dresses,
I hesitate to answer this question because I am an embryologist with some experience with using PGD for patients but I am not a geneticist or PGD lab tech. I tried to find a published rate on any of the public websites of the biggest PGD providers that offer gender selection and came up empty. Based on my own experience, it is probably very low - I think a 7% error rate is high for gender selection but is more possible for cases in which specific, often tiny genetic mutations are the target. I have never personally experienced a false gender result with any of our patients (meaning that the baby born was not the gender expected) and I haven't heard about anything from my friends who are embryologists. Having said that, I can imagine scenarios where mistakes could happen either at the IVF lab or at the genetics testing lab if embryo #1 gets switched with embryo #2 and they are a different gender. This is an embryo handling error and not a genetic testing error. A PGD technician would probably give you a better answer because as part of their quality assurance program, they are likely tracking lab errors to improve their services. Hope this helps. :) Carole

[desperatefordresses]

Thank you for your time and expertise! I appreciate you answering my question-happy to have you here!:-)