So you finally got up the courage to schedule your family balancing consult and now you need to know what you need to know! We can help you with your consult questions. IVF for fertile women is not that different than IVF for infertility patients. What is different is the PGD testing since the majority of IVF patients do not use PGD yet. You need to be informed about the entire procedure, what kind of testing your doctor or clinic uses and how much biopsy experience your clinic has. SART.org does show the PGD % but you shouldn’t necessarily rule out a clinic because the don’t do a lot of PGD. What you should do is ask questions about the embryologists- specifically his or her skill level with day 3 or day 5 biopsies and find out what you can about that individual.
The type of PGD testing is critical. What day do they biopsy and what kind of PGD- aCGH, Natera, FISH, etc. are they seeing the most success using? There are no industry standards and it is still NEW to the IVF world, especially 24-chromosome testing. CCS- Comprehensive Chromosome Testing is the latest buzzword being used right now and refers to testing all 23 pairs of the embryo’s chromosomes and the sex chromosomes are identified too. That is what we are seeing the most success with on www.GenderDreaming.com and there is a complete shift away from FISH testing.
A list of questions to consider-
– What pretests are necessary for both the egg and sperm supplier
– Success rates depending on your age, medical history, BMI
– How many embryos do they recommend transferring
– What is their typical protocol and how does a cycle go from day one to transfer
– What are your risks(OHSS, No Transfer, etc)
– Extra embryos- what are your options
– Recommended supplements for egg quality and sperm quality
– How to arrange appointments
– Cost
– Medication – approximate cost and where to purchase
– If traveling, is local monitoring possible
– Whom can you contact with additional questions