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PREIMPLANTATION GENETIC DIAGNOSIS (PGD)

PGD is offered for couples who are at risk of having children with serious genetic disorders (such as Down's Syndrome) and sex linked disorders such as hemophilia, thallasaemia etc. This new technique will also increase the chances for success of the IVF/ICSI (test-tube baby) program.

PGD technique involves testing of early stage embryos for chromosomal abnormalities such as Down's Syndrome, so that only healthy embryos are selected for transfer into the mother's womb. It also allows the determination of sex of the embryos, in particular for conditions with a sex-linked disorder, so that only embyros of certain sex without inherited disease are selected for transfer into the mother's womb.

Patients would have to undergo an IVF (test-tube baby) program in order to have PGD performed. After the eggs are fertilized in the laboratory, the embryos are biopsied for further investigation of abnormal conditions as mentioned above before being transferred into the womb.

Blastomere Biopsy and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) - Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH)

Day 3 Embryo: 8 cells	Drilling of the Zona Pellucida using laser shots
Embryo Biopsy: Removing 1 cell from the embyro	After biopsy: 1 cell removed from the embyro, ready for analysis
The picture of the cell under the FISH microscope. Result of the analysis is a normal male embyro (XY)
The picture of the cell under the FISH microscope. Result of the analysis is a normal female embyro (XX)