Genetic Services
Carrier & Embryo Screening
These services provide comprehensive genetic screening and diagnostic services to individuals and couples seeking assisted reproductive technologies.
By offering these advanced genetic testing options, we aim to improve the success rates of fertility treatment and support individuals and couples in making informed decisions regarding their family planning.
Carrier Genetic Screening
Carrier screening is a test that looks at your genes to see if you carry a genetic variation that might have a negative impact on the heath of a child if passed on. Some types of genetic variations, have little, if any impact on a person. If both parents have the same variation, this can have a significant impact on the health of their child. Knowing in advance could allow for treatment to avoid passing these genetic variations.
PGT-A
Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidies also known as PGT-A is a genetic test performed on embryos produced through IVF or ICSI.
PGT-A provides information about embryo genetic health to help select the best embryo for transfer and improve your chance of achieving a successful pregnancy.
Merrion Fertility Clinic will only recommend PGT-A for a patient or couple with a medical indication that may benefit from PGT.
The clinical criteria for this are
- Female age > 35 years in patients planning fresh IVF/ICSI.
- Recurring Implantation failure
- Recurring miscarriage which is likely due to chromosomal aneuploidy.
PGT may be considered in the management of patients who have a large number of embryos in cryostorage.
PGT-M
PGT-M is a genetic test performed on embryos produced through ICSI. PGT-M provides information about embryo genetic health for those who are at a known increased risk of having a child with a specific genetic disorder.
This information helps you and your clinical team identify an embryo to transfer that is free of the genetic disorder in question.
You may consider PGT-M if,
- You have a genetic disorder yourself.
- You have a family member with a genetic disorder.
- You have had a previous pregnancy or child with a genetic disorder.
- You and/or your partner are known carriers of a genetic disorder.
Being a carrier means that you are not typically affected by the genetic condition itself but depending on the specific disorder, you may have an increased risk of having a child with that condition.
Common conditions that PGT-M is performed for include Cystic Fibrosis, Fragile X syndrome, BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 related cancer syndrome, Thalassemia and Huntington’s Disease.
PGT-SR
PGT-SR is a genetic test performed on embryos produced through ICSI. It can be performed for people with a chromosomal rearrangement to improve the chance of establishing a healthy pregnancy. Chromosomal rearrangements are changes from the normal size or arrangement of chromosomes, which are structures that hold our genetic material. People with chromosome rearrangements are at an increased risk of producing embryos with the incorrect amount of genetic material, which typically do not lead to a successful pregnancy.
You may consider PGT-SR for chromosome rearrangements if you had a child or pregnancy with a chromosome rearrangement or if you or your partner are a carrier of an:
- Inversion
- Reciprocal translocation
- Robertsonian translocation
