A controversy of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has been answered by the scholars. The number of chromosomes in the cells of the developing IVF embryo were to blame from the pregnancies ended in miscarriage.
The Brown University and the University of Washington scholars have reported that pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) pose a serious limitation involving pregnancies from IVF ended in miscarriage. According to them, the development of an embryo created through the IVF mostly depends on the cells' proper number of chromosomes.
Per News Locker, doctors and parents want to see in pre-implantation genetic screening is 46 chromosomes or two chromosome pairs of 23 to be in a normal state. However, the chromosome with less than that of the normal count would mean a fatal flaw in the development of the embryo from IVF.
Dr. Eli Adashi, professor of medical science and former dean of medicine and biological sciences at the Brown University, and Rajiv McCoy, a genome sciences post-doctoral fellow at Washington University, wrote in their report that in 2013 there are more than 15 percent of all IVF pregnancies resulted to miscarriage due to less number of chromosomes during development. But Adashi and McCoy also generated a finding that there has likewise been a mixed evidence that PGS leads to a greater likelihood of a successful pregnancy.
The Advanced Fertility Center in Chicago published an article concerning the improvements in genetics technologies that lessens IVF pregnancy miscarriages. These advances led to the utilization of improving genetic technologies that allow assessment of all 23 pairs of chromosomes. These technologies are the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH), Single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays (SNP) and Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
There are studies that determined that margin of error rate in IVF using array CGH technology. Their presumption is that in using this kind of technology error rating is about 2 percent. Likewise, Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) error rate is about 5-10 percent.
However, Next Generation Sequencing has been increasingly utilized for IVF embryos testing since 2015. While the Next Generation Sequencing is a newer technology, it appears to be better at detecting small segmental changes compared to Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization.
Another technique used to ensure the success of the IVF pregnancy is also in done in embryo biopsy techniques. Some of the clinics in the US have been using trophectoderm biopsy and the newer genetics technologies to screen embryos from IVF patients.
The cost of pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) in the US varies from $3,000 to $9,000 plus all associated IVF costs. Other related costs from embryo biopsy and genetics laboratory performing the chromosomal analysis on the cells are also involved.
Aside from all of these, human embryo research for IVF still remains controversial in many places worldwide including the US. Sometimes funding from the public for research are also prohibited.
"The State of affairs hampers the acquisition of new insights into the intricate process of early human development," Dr. Adashi and McCoy reported. They also added that transitional breakthroughs intent on improving infertility care for IVF patients are being delayed. "Patients afflicted with infertility deserved better."
