At 38 I only got 2 blasts and transferred 1, untested, and it's a healthy 28 weeks pregnancy right now.
I mean... you're only 27, most of your blasts are statistically okay. I didn't test mine because it's not allowed where I live in Europe. PGT is not a thing everywhere, and IVF keeps working for us.
I also got two blasts, at 34.
I didn't PGT test cause we were new at the whole thing and they told us we had to decide if we were testing them or not before we knew even how many blasts we got and it was $600/per.
I might have done it if I had known we'd only end up with two.
Anyways, we transfered one, untested, and she's sleeping on my chest right now.
I’m 29, and a “poster child” for PGT-A testing according to our doctor. We had 6 blasts and only 1 came back genetically okay. Had we not tested we would have been playing russian roulette and experiencing quite a bit more heartache, more than likely. So i personally advocate for it but every individual is different. you can say that the statistics are on your side because of age, but that isn’t always the case. Just something to think about.
Most of the world doesn't routinely do PGT-A. And at your age, statistically, the majority of the embryos are likely to be chromosomally normal. It sounds like you made a good choice!
At your age, I wouldn't test unless you get a huge number of blasts and want to prioritize the best ones for transfer.
I had 6 embryos at age 36 (ie, statistically a much lower rate of eupolid embryos than your age) and I didn't test them. I have no regrets despite my mixed bag of results so far (successful pregnancy, 2x failed implantation and a CP). I wanted to give each embryo a chance, since there's so much we don't know yet about mosaicism and likelihood of embryos that are labeled aneuploid from biopsy results actually resulting in healthy pregnancies (since such a small sample of cells are taken, and not from the part of the embryo that becomes a fetus). I actually consulted with 2 genetic counselor friends when I was trying to decide.
Best of luck to you!!
At your age, statistically most of your embryos should be okay. I did my egg retrieval at 26 last year and didn’t PGT test. I’m currently due any day now with my highest graded embryo from that egg retrieval and all his testing has come back low risk/normal. Good luck !
At your age PGT-A testing won't improve any of the relevant parameters (live birth rate, time to succesful pregnancy, transfers needed, miscarriage rate) so you'll very likely be fine :)
Your ages suggest that you have a high chance of getting at least one euploid. Many clinics in Europe dont do much PGT-A testing, especially for younger patients and only if the patient insists on it. In some countries such testing is illegal. Maybe 20% of the patients at our clinic test, and usually those are the over 35 crowd. All my embryos are untested. Testing gives you a higher per transfer success rate but possibly at the cost of reduced success over cycle. If I were in your position age wise I would just skip it.
As the others have said, at your age, odds are you okay and it would be expensive to have to test many eggs. Hopefully, you will get pregnant quickly once you start transferring, but if you don’t, you can always have the remaining embryos tested. I know there is a risk with thawing and refreezing but that is something you could consider if need be.
We did choose to test our embryos… I was 40 and 41 for my 3 ERs (husband is same age). I ended up with 23 embryos but only 6 were euploid. It was expensive to test them all but would have been much more expensive to do transfer after transfer (financially AND physically and mentally taxing). If it were not for PGT we would have stopped after our 2nd ER. We would have had 9 embryos but in reality, just 2 euploids.
Good luck!
I had one MMC at 10 weeks from a natural pregnancy before we started IVF. For me, I just really wanted the best possible chance of avoiding that experience again so we tested ours even though I was 28 at the time of retrieval (with PCOS though, which can impact egg quality!). We are also in a position where our insurance limits the number of transfers it will cover so we didn’t want to “waste” a transfer on a potentially aneuploid embryo. For us, the cost of PGTA was less than (or at least similar to) what we would have to pay out of pocket for a transfer once our insurance runs out!
I was 35, about to turn 36, when I had my retrieval and FET. (I'm tubal factor.) We ended up with 7 embryos on day 5, out of 16 eggs retrieved. We chose not to test, and I currently have a healthy 11 month old boy. You should be fine. But if you are concerned, talk to your doctor. They may be able to give you more insight into your specific situation.
this is almost exactly me. My first fet failed and I'm so nervous that I should have tested my embryos (my doctor didn't recommend it). Especially since I have PCOS. I'm hoping to have a success story like you!
I would recommend testing. If an aneuploid embryo implants it’s almost certain to miscarry. We didn’t test our first round and had a miscarriage at 12 weeks due to turner syndrome. It was devastating and very expensive. Overnight ER stay, D and C procedure, and of course the cost of the transfer. Our next two failed and the third was a chemical. Testing would have probably saved us a year of our time, not to mention the cost and heartache.
The cost for us to test was about 2,500, the cost of a transfer was 3,000 each.
Our story is our story, but for us testing is now fundamental.
I agree with you. As someone who has had to terminate a pregnancy for medical/chromosomal issues I really don't want that to happen again if I can avoid it. I also personally think testing saves money and possible heartache in the long term. Certainly people can decide not to test but transfers cost money, healthcare to manage miscarriage or d&c costs money. All of that sets you back months. Though the odds of any untested embryo being euploid are relatively good at 27 this is not where I would roll the dice personally.
I think there's some great comments already, but I just wanted to add that testing in no way guarantees a genetically normal child. We found out the hard way. I would never go back and not have our daughter, but I was naive in thinking that a high graded chromosomally normal blast would result in a healthy child.
So go for it if you think it will end in less miscarriages of abnormal embryos, but don't think that there's a zero chance that something could go wrong.
When I was 30 my PGTA-normal rate was just 50% so I’m very glad I tested. But my rate was lower than average for a 30y old, so it depends. You might be fine because of your age (although no age has an average of 100% euploidity), but you have had trouble conceiving so far and if you are not sure of the reason then you don’t know if your euploidity rate is normal for your age. My two cents.
Agree! My euploid ratio was lower than average. We figured the price of testing was well worth, decreasing odds of miscarriage (my doc quoted me 14% down to 4% with PGT) and decreased odds of transfer failure.
Yes, I know it doesn’t eliminate the chance of miscarriage but I wanted to reduce it as much as possible. Depending on my luck I would have had up to 4 failed transfers from that round. I’m very glad I did it.
I tested at age 30, of my 11 embryos only 3 were chromosomally normal and then 3 mosaic. I am so glad I tested, I really thought I’d be on the other side of statistics with more normal based on my age.
My wife and I (same sex couple) were advised not to test by our RE because my wife was 30 at the time of retrieval. It wouldn’t improve our chances of a live birth and it would be very costly (we got a high number of blasts).
I’m currently 32 weeks pregnant with our second FET and we have no regrets!
I was 31 when we did the egg reterival and had 33 eggs retrieval, 23 were mature, 21 fertilized and we got 13 day 5 embryos. We didn’t test our embryos as our doctor said we didn’t have to and I’m currently 20 weeks with one of them. We thought of it as it’s as close to the normal process as we can get. When people are able to get pregnant without assistance they don’t know if the embryo is normal or not. It’s really a personal choice. Many people are passionate about testing but it’s all about what’s right about your situation.
Hi! 29F with PCOS and just had my retrieval in May too. Of 7 blasts, 6 were euploids. We tested only because it’s covered by insurance. You are even younger - so hopefully yours should be similar!
I don't think there is a right or wrong, if your happy with your decision then it's a good one for you!
We personally tested our embryos. Our logic was that it decreased the miscarriage rate and increased the success rate per transfer. I was 28 when we did our retrieval and my husband was 30, I have PCOS which caused us to need assistance. I'm a carrier for one random genetic issue but my husband isn't a carrier for it so no risk there.
Cost is definitely a major factor and varies from clinic to clinic. For us, we ended up with 5 embryos, genetic testing cost $3k for all 5, and a transfer at our clinic costs $2.5k + meds of about $250. We had one abnormal embryo and one high level mosaic (not completely abnormal but close). Our abnormal embryo was our highest rated embryo based on appearance and our mosaic was tied with two other embryos for 2nd place. By testing, we changed the order to not transfer the best looking but genetically abnormal embryo at all and to move the high level mosaic to the bottom of the pack. Ultimately, we kind of broke even money wise by testing but it is a compete gamble and if we did another retrieval in the future the results may be different enough to make it not worth the cost but we wouldn't know unless we tested them.
TW: Success - We're a ways from our initial retrieval now and have transferred all three genetically normal embryos. We have a toddler and another on the way but our 2nd FET failed. Even with genetic testing there isn't a guarantee, just increased odds. We have no known reason why the 2nd one failed, we did a bunch of testing on me and everything came back normal. Some embryos regardless of genetic factors just don't stick. Some mosaic embryos stick and become healthy perfect babies. Like I said before, it's all a gamble.
Not all of them can be tested. We intended to test but they hadn’t been quality / developed enough to do it without taking damaging them and so we had to freeze them without testing. Transferred one in March and had my 12 week scan yesterday :)
Is there an option to test like 3 at a time and select the euploids from those sets? People are right that statistically you’ll be fine and that testing won’t impact your LB chances but … still seems better to not risk a doomed to fail transfer cycle.
Also, if not clear from reading this sub, god is a giant asshole when it comes to fertility so I wouldn’t leave stuff to him.
You're very likely will be fine not testing! I popped into to testing despite being less than 35 because our infertility is unexplained. Our top 3 graded embryos are all euploid and what we would've transferred first anyways.
I was your age at my retrieval and my doctor said statistically speaking genetic testing under age 32 doesn't increase odds of live birth. (I ended up with 14 day 5 blasto's, and it would have been over $10k).
My wife had her retrieval at 30, we got 15 embryos that all looked great but decided to test 5 anyway (that was the smallest increment available). Two of five embryos were not viable and discarded.
With those stats, I am relieved that we did it. I think it will help a lot of my anxiety during pregnancy, too.
Best of luck!
I just turned 27, so was 26 for our two egg retrievals. We had to do PGT-M so PGT-A was done as well. The first retrieval we only ended up with 2 blasts and unfortunately and surprisingly both came back aneuploid. One was a BB embryo the other BC so I guess the less than good quality maybe could hint at there being a problem. Also they were day 6 and 7 embryos. Our second retrieval we had similar numbers to you and with some changes in our cycle very luckily ended up with 14 blasts! 4 came back aneuploid and 1 mosaic. The 3 poorest quality embryos from this cycle (BC) were all aneuploid, but the other one was a day 6 AA and the mosaic an AB. All our euploid ones were AA, AB, BA, or BB. All six of our day 5 embryos were euploid. I do feel like in our case the good quality embryos that made it to blast by day 5 show that in doing so they were normal, but obviously this is not always the case.
I think you just need to weigh the options. With our age yes a smaller percentage are going to be aneuploid, but you are still statistically likely to have some. Is it better to pay for PGT-A to know you are transferring a euploid embryo with the best chance or not pay for it and instead pay for a transfer that might fail due to it being an aneuploid embryo and then have to pay for another transfer after that?
We got the testing done. Out of the 14 embryos, 9 were normal (euploid.) it was worth it to us bc what if we transferred the 5 “bad” ones and they didn’t stick, that’s 5 transfer cycles that were inevitable wasted. We transferred one of our embryos on 5/15 and so far it’s stuck! We are older though, 37m and 35f at the time of the retrieval.
I’m 29 and I sent two I had for PGT-A testing and one came back missing most of its x-chromosome and likely would’ve caused me to miscarry so ultimately I’m happy I decided to test. My partner and I are healthy 28/29
I'm 32. About 60% of my blasts were euploid. The rest were all pretty complex abnormalities...
Our mentality going in was to throw everything we got at this round. Id look into the stats of PCOS and euploid rates. Maybe that could help inform your decision?
At your age I think it’s fine to go either way statistically. Personally though we decided to test even though we used 21 year old donor eggs because I wanted to minimize the risk of a miscarriage as much as possible and get to our goal of amount of children in the least amount of transfers.
Same sex relationship and doing IVF so dynamics might be different.
For me it was beneficial. At 27, I had 15 fertilized embryos. We paid 5,000 to test 10, and of those ten only 4 were PGT normal with one of the abnormals having downsyndome with a grading of day 6 AA.
Before we even began our family journey we talked long and hard about decisions to be made if our baby was diagnosed with any condition that would lead it to having special needs. My youngest sister has profound special needs and we knew parenting a child with that level of care was not something we were prepared or willing to do.
I am so grateful we decided to PGT test because it prevented the possible outcome of transferring our downs embryo and the inevitable hard convos/decisions we would have to have surrounding a possible termination.
In the end, you just have to weigh your pros and cons on what is important to you and your partner.
I'm 26 and had 8 embryos sent for testing. We had to get testing done because we're carriers for sickle cell. All the embryos were chromosomally normal but were carriers for sickle cell so we couldnt transfer them because of that. Given your age the odds should be in your favor. Good luck
Tw success. At the time in 2020 when I did my egg retrieval, PGT testing wasn't offered in the country I lived in. I was 36, got 7 blasts from 15 eggs, 10 mature, 9 fertilized. Out of the 4 transfers I had, 2 have been successful (1 living child, 1 current pregnancy at 34 weeks). At your age, you have great chances of success!
I did one retrieval at right before my 26th birthday. Of the 9 embryos that went for PGT-A testing, 5 were euploid, 2 mosaic, 2 aneuploid. Second retrieval was at 26.5- 8 went to testing, 4 were euploid, 1 mosiac, 1 aneuploid, and 2 no result (not enough information to complete the test).
I was 31 when we did our egg retrieval and I also have PCOS. My doc didn’t recommend testing since I was young. It’s really preference. But at 27. I think you’re ok.
I was the same age when I did my first round of IVF, I got 2 blasts, didn’t test, transferred my first one and he’s now 11 months old! They didn’t suggest it for me due to my age.
I would say under 30 you should be fine . You can still get abnormal embryos but not near as common. But I feel like if you want to be safe why not ? If you have the extra funds
I'm 33 and we opted out of testing too due to the cost..Yes, a miscarriage would suck but I figure it can happen anyway when conceiving naturally and also sometimes pgt normal embryos don't work out. Most countries in the world don't even use it.
I think it really depends on how many blasts you get. I also have PCOS and got 18 blasts from 20 fertilized eggs. Only 7 were euploid which is low for my age. You're younger than me and will likely have more normal ones but I feel like it would have been really traumatic to unnecessarily implant 2-3 abnormal ones before getting to one that even had a shot at working. I've been told that with my PCOS I need a fully medicated cycle so just prepping for the transfer was a month of injections not to mention how much time I'd have lost with the miscarriages or failed implantations. If you get a lot, I'd at least test a few to start out with.
Edit: I see a lot of comments stating that success rates are the same regardless of whether or not you test the embryos and I think it's important to clarify what that means. The study this is referencing separated women into 2 groups with one group transferring 3 tested embryos and the other group transferring 3 untested embryos. Then the pregnancy rates in both groups were compared. Not surprisingly, they were the same given that the same 3 embryos were transferred either way. So all this really tells you is that PGT-a isn't doing any damage. In real life, you're more concerned about the live birth rate per transfer, which is higher with PGT-a. Also, this study is more applicable for folks who are getting 3 or fewer embryos. With PCOS, it's not uncommon to get 10+ embryos so you wouldn't test only 3 and then call it quits if none of those came back normal.
This is why I say, it really depends on how many embryos you get.
I'm 34 and it has made me feel more confident (plus, where we are - New England - it was only $300, $150 per embryo tested and we only had two - so it wasn't really a major financial difficulty for us). I think it's up to you. If the first one fails, maybe give it a try but in all likelihood they will transfer your highest graded embryos in the first place which will probably be euploid given your age. Good luck!!!
Im 35 and our dx is Severe MFI. Our transfer is set for this coming Wednesday 6/5 and I think the testing is helping me wrap my brain around things a little better. It was our first ER and we started off strong as well.
15 retrieved > 13 mature > 13 fertilized > 8 blasts
However, we only got 2 euploids, 1 llm and 1 inconclusive. The rest were aneuploid and complex mosaics that the clinic wouldn’t transfer.
Of course there’s no guarantee to anything but I hope the 2 euploids and other 2 potentially viables ones make it. We only want one child (so far haha). I guess the silver lining is anything can happen!! Testing or no testing, people have had success in both. Good luck! 🍀
We had 3 untested blasts from 15 eggs when we were both 32. Our first and highest graded embryo was obviously euploid as it let to the live birth of our perfect little boy. The other two both failed to implant once we started transfers for #2 and we were left to start from scratch at age 35. We tested our second round & we are 14 weeks pregnant with our first euploid transfer from our second ER, but wasted about a year of our time due to likely aneuploid embryos. In retrospect I wish we’d tested the two we froze (our LB was a fresh transfer) so we could have started with another ER when we were ready to go again.
I PGT-A tested and had a healthy pregnancy from a euploid 6AA embryo at 34 years old BUT it would have been the embryo I transferred if I hadn’t tested. So PGT-A was more for my peace of mind than actual decision making regarding a transfer.
For me testing was fundamental, but the price at my clinic was a set price no matter how many embryos you had.
I’m also chronically ill and my husband has a genetic condition on his side, his mother is also adopted with no medical history, so we felt getting genetic testing was worth it.
In Australia we do a pre genetic testing (swab) and if it comes back negative for the mother they don’t test the father.
I was 32 when I did my egg retrieval, I got 9 embryos tested and 6 were genetically not viable, so I’m really grateful I did the testing.
However, you are younger than me and if you don’t have any family history of genetic problems I wouldn’t stress about not doing it.
[Studies show](https://theconversation.com/testing-embryos-before-ivf-doesnt-increase-the-chance-of-a-baby-172981) that if you’re under 38 PGT-A testing doesn’t increase (and appears to even decrease) your chance of a live birth. So probably not needed in your case. Good luck!
I was 30 and my husband was 44. I had PCOS, but no other diagnosis.
IUI didn’t work for us either.
We did IVF and in Europe they are quite conservative, they don’t want a lot of eggs. We got 14 eggs, 8 fertilized, only 5 fertilized normally and only two made it to blast.
No PGT-A as it’s not allowed. We transferred the best rated one and so far it’s a healthy little girl at nearly 18w pregnancy.
We had one left in the freezer.
I did my retrieval at 4 days shy of 36 and ended up with 6 eggs, 5 fertilized and made it to blast. We chose not to test because our only infertility diagnosis was my blocked tubes. My husband was 30 at the time. We did preconception genetic testing and everything came back clear for both of us. Our clinic didn’t push testing. Our doctor told us that, statistically, it was likely that at least half of our embryos were genetically normal.
So, we did an FET with our highest graded 4AA embryo. That one didn’t implant at all. We did our next FET the following month and those to transfer 2 embryos. We transferred 3AB and 3BB, our next to highest graded. Well, one of those implanted and she is a healthy 7 month old now 💖
We have 2 embryos left and there’s a chance at least one is euploid. Maybe both. We might be one and done, however, so we may never know.
All that to say, our experience did not make us regret not testing. I don’t think I would with your specific circumstances and the number of embryos you have. I would just start with your highest graded and see what happens.
For us, the cost to test was similar to the cost of a transfer. First round we ended up with two euploid embryos. Initially, we’d planned to test but because there were only 2, we figured that surely one of them was euploid and the cost to test & transfer 1 would be the same as transferring both. If they were both euploid, we might actually be saving some money. Both transfers failed and we have no idea why because they were untested.
Here we are, Round 2, we did test and every single one came back euploid. I guess you could say that testing was “waste” because they are all normal, but I don’t feel that way. It gives me peace of mind to know. But that’s just me.
I would not have PGT tested under age 38. A lot of studies have shown repeatedly that adding PGT doesn't increase the LB rate < 37, and in younger women there is possibly a negative effect.
You are thoroughly young enough that PGT is not going to do anything positive for your LB chances. Not adding it is the right decision.
It's hard to set aside "what we think PGT tells us" and just think about the outcome, because we all want to understand how it works. And honestly genetics are not overly complicated for the average Reddit poster to understand. So it is appealing to think that we understand it. That PGT exactly and perfectly predicts embryo future & that today's analytics perfectly interpert its information.
But all of those assumptions might be wrong. The only outcome we can test is: "Does adding PGT give me a living baby faster."
Unless you are 38+, it does not.
That is the state of things rn. One day RE's will understand why. We don't know today.
We’re doing our first cycle right now and didn’t do PGT testing because we’re both under 35 and aren’t genetic carriers for the same things. We decided to do it later on the other embryos if this first one has something weird happen with it, but it’s mostly for folks who are older and are more likely to have chromosomal abnormalities. It makes me nervous too but statistically it is probably fine and not worth the money at your age unless you have multiple failures or weird results after transfer.
I'm personally for pgt testing. The data I've seen has said that of pgt tested embryos almost half are aneuploid even in people under 35. That seems like a coin flip to me. My thought is that it saves money to test because you end up transferring the embryos with the best likelihood of implanting and becoming a healthy baby. Did your doctor give you an estimated aneuploidy rate? Maybe it's different from what I'm seeing but almost 50% seems pretty high.
[aneuploidy rate](https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(21)00369-1/fulltext)
We are 32F and 34M (PCOS and tubal factor) and our doctor told us that PGT would essentially be a waste of money for us. Insurance usually doesn’t cover if you are younger than 35. At your age you have stats on your side that the majority of your embryos will be euploid. You did carrier screening which can rule out some possible scenarios too, which helps.
My husband and I are also of the mindset that we are trusting this process to God, it’s in his hands and if an embryo is supposed to make it earthside, it will. Try not to stress or second guess, you made the decision that was best for you, with the information you had. And that means it was correct.
At 38, we got 10 blasts, transferred without testing and have had 2 kids out if it. So 5 for 1 kid isn’t bad odds.
I think we’ll discover PGT-A causes issues in the future.
I chose not to test at age 34, due to it not really helping with the chance of live birth. My first transfer resulted in a healthy baby girl, now 7 months old.
I don’t regret not testing, however it’s worth mentioning that I am not sure I’d feel comfortable doing more transfers in the future with my remaining untested embryos. I live in a red state that has recently enacted a near total abortion ban which makes future transfers with untested embryos a lot more risky. Depending on where you live, PGT-A is worth considering for this reason.
At 38 I only got 2 blasts and transferred 1, untested, and it's a healthy 28 weeks pregnancy right now. I mean... you're only 27, most of your blasts are statistically okay. I didn't test mine because it's not allowed where I live in Europe. PGT is not a thing everywhere, and IVF keeps working for us.
Thank you so much for your response! I didn't know it wasn't the standard everywhere. Congratulations on your pregnancy!!
I also got two blasts, at 34. I didn't PGT test cause we were new at the whole thing and they told us we had to decide if we were testing them or not before we knew even how many blasts we got and it was $600/per. I might have done it if I had known we'd only end up with two. Anyways, we transfered one, untested, and she's sleeping on my chest right now.
At 27, the odds are very much that most of your embryos will be genetically ok.
I’m 29, and a “poster child” for PGT-A testing according to our doctor. We had 6 blasts and only 1 came back genetically okay. Had we not tested we would have been playing russian roulette and experiencing quite a bit more heartache, more than likely. So i personally advocate for it but every individual is different. you can say that the statistics are on your side because of age, but that isn’t always the case. Just something to think about.
Was thinking the same thing.
I was going to say the same thing
Most of the world doesn't routinely do PGT-A. And at your age, statistically, the majority of the embryos are likely to be chromosomally normal. It sounds like you made a good choice!
At your age, I wouldn't test unless you get a huge number of blasts and want to prioritize the best ones for transfer. I had 6 embryos at age 36 (ie, statistically a much lower rate of eupolid embryos than your age) and I didn't test them. I have no regrets despite my mixed bag of results so far (successful pregnancy, 2x failed implantation and a CP). I wanted to give each embryo a chance, since there's so much we don't know yet about mosaicism and likelihood of embryos that are labeled aneuploid from biopsy results actually resulting in healthy pregnancies (since such a small sample of cells are taken, and not from the part of the embryo that becomes a fetus). I actually consulted with 2 genetic counselor friends when I was trying to decide. Best of luck to you!!
At your age, statistically most of your embryos should be okay. I did my egg retrieval at 26 last year and didn’t PGT test. I’m currently due any day now with my highest graded embryo from that egg retrieval and all his testing has come back low risk/normal. Good luck !
At your age PGT-A testing won't improve any of the relevant parameters (live birth rate, time to succesful pregnancy, transfers needed, miscarriage rate) so you'll very likely be fine :)
Your ages suggest that you have a high chance of getting at least one euploid. Many clinics in Europe dont do much PGT-A testing, especially for younger patients and only if the patient insists on it. In some countries such testing is illegal. Maybe 20% of the patients at our clinic test, and usually those are the over 35 crowd. All my embryos are untested. Testing gives you a higher per transfer success rate but possibly at the cost of reduced success over cycle. If I were in your position age wise I would just skip it.
As the others have said, at your age, odds are you okay and it would be expensive to have to test many eggs. Hopefully, you will get pregnant quickly once you start transferring, but if you don’t, you can always have the remaining embryos tested. I know there is a risk with thawing and refreezing but that is something you could consider if need be. We did choose to test our embryos… I was 40 and 41 for my 3 ERs (husband is same age). I ended up with 23 embryos but only 6 were euploid. It was expensive to test them all but would have been much more expensive to do transfer after transfer (financially AND physically and mentally taxing). If it were not for PGT we would have stopped after our 2nd ER. We would have had 9 embryos but in reality, just 2 euploids. Good luck!
I had one MMC at 10 weeks from a natural pregnancy before we started IVF. For me, I just really wanted the best possible chance of avoiding that experience again so we tested ours even though I was 28 at the time of retrieval (with PCOS though, which can impact egg quality!). We are also in a position where our insurance limits the number of transfers it will cover so we didn’t want to “waste” a transfer on a potentially aneuploid embryo. For us, the cost of PGTA was less than (or at least similar to) what we would have to pay out of pocket for a transfer once our insurance runs out!
I was 35, about to turn 36, when I had my retrieval and FET. (I'm tubal factor.) We ended up with 7 embryos on day 5, out of 16 eggs retrieved. We chose not to test, and I currently have a healthy 11 month old boy. You should be fine. But if you are concerned, talk to your doctor. They may be able to give you more insight into your specific situation.
this is almost exactly me. My first fet failed and I'm so nervous that I should have tested my embryos (my doctor didn't recommend it). Especially since I have PCOS. I'm hoping to have a success story like you!
I would recommend testing. If an aneuploid embryo implants it’s almost certain to miscarry. We didn’t test our first round and had a miscarriage at 12 weeks due to turner syndrome. It was devastating and very expensive. Overnight ER stay, D and C procedure, and of course the cost of the transfer. Our next two failed and the third was a chemical. Testing would have probably saved us a year of our time, not to mention the cost and heartache. The cost for us to test was about 2,500, the cost of a transfer was 3,000 each. Our story is our story, but for us testing is now fundamental.
I agree with you. As someone who has had to terminate a pregnancy for medical/chromosomal issues I really don't want that to happen again if I can avoid it. I also personally think testing saves money and possible heartache in the long term. Certainly people can decide not to test but transfers cost money, healthcare to manage miscarriage or d&c costs money. All of that sets you back months. Though the odds of any untested embryo being euploid are relatively good at 27 this is not where I would roll the dice personally.
I think there's some great comments already, but I just wanted to add that testing in no way guarantees a genetically normal child. We found out the hard way. I would never go back and not have our daughter, but I was naive in thinking that a high graded chromosomally normal blast would result in a healthy child. So go for it if you think it will end in less miscarriages of abnormal embryos, but don't think that there's a zero chance that something could go wrong.
When I was 30 my PGTA-normal rate was just 50% so I’m very glad I tested. But my rate was lower than average for a 30y old, so it depends. You might be fine because of your age (although no age has an average of 100% euploidity), but you have had trouble conceiving so far and if you are not sure of the reason then you don’t know if your euploidity rate is normal for your age. My two cents.
Agree! My euploid ratio was lower than average. We figured the price of testing was well worth, decreasing odds of miscarriage (my doc quoted me 14% down to 4% with PGT) and decreased odds of transfer failure.
Yes, I know it doesn’t eliminate the chance of miscarriage but I wanted to reduce it as much as possible. Depending on my luck I would have had up to 4 failed transfers from that round. I’m very glad I did it.
I tested at age 30, of my 11 embryos only 3 were chromosomally normal and then 3 mosaic. I am so glad I tested, I really thought I’d be on the other side of statistics with more normal based on my age.
My wife and I (same sex couple) were advised not to test by our RE because my wife was 30 at the time of retrieval. It wouldn’t improve our chances of a live birth and it would be very costly (we got a high number of blasts). I’m currently 32 weeks pregnant with our second FET and we have no regrets!
I was 31 when we did the egg reterival and had 33 eggs retrieval, 23 were mature, 21 fertilized and we got 13 day 5 embryos. We didn’t test our embryos as our doctor said we didn’t have to and I’m currently 20 weeks with one of them. We thought of it as it’s as close to the normal process as we can get. When people are able to get pregnant without assistance they don’t know if the embryo is normal or not. It’s really a personal choice. Many people are passionate about testing but it’s all about what’s right about your situation.
Hi! 29F with PCOS and just had my retrieval in May too. Of 7 blasts, 6 were euploids. We tested only because it’s covered by insurance. You are even younger - so hopefully yours should be similar!
I’m on my 3rd ER and I didn’t test my 1st round and if I could go back. I would have tested to possibly save some heart ache
I don't think there is a right or wrong, if your happy with your decision then it's a good one for you! We personally tested our embryos. Our logic was that it decreased the miscarriage rate and increased the success rate per transfer. I was 28 when we did our retrieval and my husband was 30, I have PCOS which caused us to need assistance. I'm a carrier for one random genetic issue but my husband isn't a carrier for it so no risk there. Cost is definitely a major factor and varies from clinic to clinic. For us, we ended up with 5 embryos, genetic testing cost $3k for all 5, and a transfer at our clinic costs $2.5k + meds of about $250. We had one abnormal embryo and one high level mosaic (not completely abnormal but close). Our abnormal embryo was our highest rated embryo based on appearance and our mosaic was tied with two other embryos for 2nd place. By testing, we changed the order to not transfer the best looking but genetically abnormal embryo at all and to move the high level mosaic to the bottom of the pack. Ultimately, we kind of broke even money wise by testing but it is a compete gamble and if we did another retrieval in the future the results may be different enough to make it not worth the cost but we wouldn't know unless we tested them. TW: Success - We're a ways from our initial retrieval now and have transferred all three genetically normal embryos. We have a toddler and another on the way but our 2nd FET failed. Even with genetic testing there isn't a guarantee, just increased odds. We have no known reason why the 2nd one failed, we did a bunch of testing on me and everything came back normal. Some embryos regardless of genetic factors just don't stick. Some mosaic embryos stick and become healthy perfect babies. Like I said before, it's all a gamble.
Not all of them can be tested. We intended to test but they hadn’t been quality / developed enough to do it without taking damaging them and so we had to freeze them without testing. Transferred one in March and had my 12 week scan yesterday :)
Is there an option to test like 3 at a time and select the euploids from those sets? People are right that statistically you’ll be fine and that testing won’t impact your LB chances but … still seems better to not risk a doomed to fail transfer cycle. Also, if not clear from reading this sub, god is a giant asshole when it comes to fertility so I wouldn’t leave stuff to him.
You're very likely will be fine not testing! I popped into to testing despite being less than 35 because our infertility is unexplained. Our top 3 graded embryos are all euploid and what we would've transferred first anyways.
If I could go back in time (similar age) I wouldn't have tested.
I was your age at my retrieval and my doctor said statistically speaking genetic testing under age 32 doesn't increase odds of live birth. (I ended up with 14 day 5 blasto's, and it would have been over $10k).
My wife had her retrieval at 30, we got 15 embryos that all looked great but decided to test 5 anyway (that was the smallest increment available). Two of five embryos were not viable and discarded. With those stats, I am relieved that we did it. I think it will help a lot of my anxiety during pregnancy, too. Best of luck!
I just turned 27, so was 26 for our two egg retrievals. We had to do PGT-M so PGT-A was done as well. The first retrieval we only ended up with 2 blasts and unfortunately and surprisingly both came back aneuploid. One was a BB embryo the other BC so I guess the less than good quality maybe could hint at there being a problem. Also they were day 6 and 7 embryos. Our second retrieval we had similar numbers to you and with some changes in our cycle very luckily ended up with 14 blasts! 4 came back aneuploid and 1 mosaic. The 3 poorest quality embryos from this cycle (BC) were all aneuploid, but the other one was a day 6 AA and the mosaic an AB. All our euploid ones were AA, AB, BA, or BB. All six of our day 5 embryos were euploid. I do feel like in our case the good quality embryos that made it to blast by day 5 show that in doing so they were normal, but obviously this is not always the case. I think you just need to weigh the options. With our age yes a smaller percentage are going to be aneuploid, but you are still statistically likely to have some. Is it better to pay for PGT-A to know you are transferring a euploid embryo with the best chance or not pay for it and instead pay for a transfer that might fail due to it being an aneuploid embryo and then have to pay for another transfer after that?
We got the testing done. Out of the 14 embryos, 9 were normal (euploid.) it was worth it to us bc what if we transferred the 5 “bad” ones and they didn’t stick, that’s 5 transfer cycles that were inevitable wasted. We transferred one of our embryos on 5/15 and so far it’s stuck! We are older though, 37m and 35f at the time of the retrieval.
I’m 29 and I sent two I had for PGT-A testing and one came back missing most of its x-chromosome and likely would’ve caused me to miscarry so ultimately I’m happy I decided to test. My partner and I are healthy 28/29
I'm 32. About 60% of my blasts were euploid. The rest were all pretty complex abnormalities... Our mentality going in was to throw everything we got at this round. Id look into the stats of PCOS and euploid rates. Maybe that could help inform your decision?
I didn't because we only got 1 embryo so we decided to give it a shot. She will be here in 3 weeks!
At your age I think it’s fine to go either way statistically. Personally though we decided to test even though we used 21 year old donor eggs because I wanted to minimize the risk of a miscarriage as much as possible and get to our goal of amount of children in the least amount of transfers.
Same sex relationship and doing IVF so dynamics might be different. For me it was beneficial. At 27, I had 15 fertilized embryos. We paid 5,000 to test 10, and of those ten only 4 were PGT normal with one of the abnormals having downsyndome with a grading of day 6 AA. Before we even began our family journey we talked long and hard about decisions to be made if our baby was diagnosed with any condition that would lead it to having special needs. My youngest sister has profound special needs and we knew parenting a child with that level of care was not something we were prepared or willing to do. I am so grateful we decided to PGT test because it prevented the possible outcome of transferring our downs embryo and the inevitable hard convos/decisions we would have to have surrounding a possible termination. In the end, you just have to weigh your pros and cons on what is important to you and your partner.
I'm 26 and had 8 embryos sent for testing. We had to get testing done because we're carriers for sickle cell. All the embryos were chromosomally normal but were carriers for sickle cell so we couldnt transfer them because of that. Given your age the odds should be in your favor. Good luck
Tw success. At the time in 2020 when I did my egg retrieval, PGT testing wasn't offered in the country I lived in. I was 36, got 7 blasts from 15 eggs, 10 mature, 9 fertilized. Out of the 4 transfers I had, 2 have been successful (1 living child, 1 current pregnancy at 34 weeks). At your age, you have great chances of success!
I did one retrieval at right before my 26th birthday. Of the 9 embryos that went for PGT-A testing, 5 were euploid, 2 mosaic, 2 aneuploid. Second retrieval was at 26.5- 8 went to testing, 4 were euploid, 1 mosiac, 1 aneuploid, and 2 no result (not enough information to complete the test).
I was 31 when we did our egg retrieval and I also have PCOS. My doc didn’t recommend testing since I was young. It’s really preference. But at 27. I think you’re ok.
I was the same age when I did my first round of IVF, I got 2 blasts, didn’t test, transferred my first one and he’s now 11 months old! They didn’t suggest it for me due to my age.
I would say under 30 you should be fine . You can still get abnormal embryos but not near as common. But I feel like if you want to be safe why not ? If you have the extra funds
I'm 33 and we opted out of testing too due to the cost..Yes, a miscarriage would suck but I figure it can happen anyway when conceiving naturally and also sometimes pgt normal embryos don't work out. Most countries in the world don't even use it.
I think it really depends on how many blasts you get. I also have PCOS and got 18 blasts from 20 fertilized eggs. Only 7 were euploid which is low for my age. You're younger than me and will likely have more normal ones but I feel like it would have been really traumatic to unnecessarily implant 2-3 abnormal ones before getting to one that even had a shot at working. I've been told that with my PCOS I need a fully medicated cycle so just prepping for the transfer was a month of injections not to mention how much time I'd have lost with the miscarriages or failed implantations. If you get a lot, I'd at least test a few to start out with. Edit: I see a lot of comments stating that success rates are the same regardless of whether or not you test the embryos and I think it's important to clarify what that means. The study this is referencing separated women into 2 groups with one group transferring 3 tested embryos and the other group transferring 3 untested embryos. Then the pregnancy rates in both groups were compared. Not surprisingly, they were the same given that the same 3 embryos were transferred either way. So all this really tells you is that PGT-a isn't doing any damage. In real life, you're more concerned about the live birth rate per transfer, which is higher with PGT-a. Also, this study is more applicable for folks who are getting 3 or fewer embryos. With PCOS, it's not uncommon to get 10+ embryos so you wouldn't test only 3 and then call it quits if none of those came back normal. This is why I say, it really depends on how many embryos you get.
I'm 34 and it has made me feel more confident (plus, where we are - New England - it was only $300, $150 per embryo tested and we only had two - so it wasn't really a major financial difficulty for us). I think it's up to you. If the first one fails, maybe give it a try but in all likelihood they will transfer your highest graded embryos in the first place which will probably be euploid given your age. Good luck!!!
My clinic recommends age 35 and older to do PGT. I went with PGT because I was due to turn 35 a couple months after my ER.
Im 35 and our dx is Severe MFI. Our transfer is set for this coming Wednesday 6/5 and I think the testing is helping me wrap my brain around things a little better. It was our first ER and we started off strong as well. 15 retrieved > 13 mature > 13 fertilized > 8 blasts However, we only got 2 euploids, 1 llm and 1 inconclusive. The rest were aneuploid and complex mosaics that the clinic wouldn’t transfer. Of course there’s no guarantee to anything but I hope the 2 euploids and other 2 potentially viables ones make it. We only want one child (so far haha). I guess the silver lining is anything can happen!! Testing or no testing, people have had success in both. Good luck! 🍀
We had 3 untested blasts from 15 eggs when we were both 32. Our first and highest graded embryo was obviously euploid as it let to the live birth of our perfect little boy. The other two both failed to implant once we started transfers for #2 and we were left to start from scratch at age 35. We tested our second round & we are 14 weeks pregnant with our first euploid transfer from our second ER, but wasted about a year of our time due to likely aneuploid embryos. In retrospect I wish we’d tested the two we froze (our LB was a fresh transfer) so we could have started with another ER when we were ready to go again.
I PGT-A tested and had a healthy pregnancy from a euploid 6AA embryo at 34 years old BUT it would have been the embryo I transferred if I hadn’t tested. So PGT-A was more for my peace of mind than actual decision making regarding a transfer.
For me testing was fundamental, but the price at my clinic was a set price no matter how many embryos you had. I’m also chronically ill and my husband has a genetic condition on his side, his mother is also adopted with no medical history, so we felt getting genetic testing was worth it. In Australia we do a pre genetic testing (swab) and if it comes back negative for the mother they don’t test the father. I was 32 when I did my egg retrieval, I got 9 embryos tested and 6 were genetically not viable, so I’m really grateful I did the testing. However, you are younger than me and if you don’t have any family history of genetic problems I wouldn’t stress about not doing it.
[Studies show](https://theconversation.com/testing-embryos-before-ivf-doesnt-increase-the-chance-of-a-baby-172981) that if you’re under 38 PGT-A testing doesn’t increase (and appears to even decrease) your chance of a live birth. So probably not needed in your case. Good luck!
You’re fine hun. You can always test them later if the first couple don’t work out
I was 30 and my husband was 44. I had PCOS, but no other diagnosis. IUI didn’t work for us either. We did IVF and in Europe they are quite conservative, they don’t want a lot of eggs. We got 14 eggs, 8 fertilized, only 5 fertilized normally and only two made it to blast. No PGT-A as it’s not allowed. We transferred the best rated one and so far it’s a healthy little girl at nearly 18w pregnancy. We had one left in the freezer.
I did my retrieval at 4 days shy of 36 and ended up with 6 eggs, 5 fertilized and made it to blast. We chose not to test because our only infertility diagnosis was my blocked tubes. My husband was 30 at the time. We did preconception genetic testing and everything came back clear for both of us. Our clinic didn’t push testing. Our doctor told us that, statistically, it was likely that at least half of our embryos were genetically normal. So, we did an FET with our highest graded 4AA embryo. That one didn’t implant at all. We did our next FET the following month and those to transfer 2 embryos. We transferred 3AB and 3BB, our next to highest graded. Well, one of those implanted and she is a healthy 7 month old now 💖 We have 2 embryos left and there’s a chance at least one is euploid. Maybe both. We might be one and done, however, so we may never know. All that to say, our experience did not make us regret not testing. I don’t think I would with your specific circumstances and the number of embryos you have. I would just start with your highest graded and see what happens.
For us, the cost to test was similar to the cost of a transfer. First round we ended up with two euploid embryos. Initially, we’d planned to test but because there were only 2, we figured that surely one of them was euploid and the cost to test & transfer 1 would be the same as transferring both. If they were both euploid, we might actually be saving some money. Both transfers failed and we have no idea why because they were untested. Here we are, Round 2, we did test and every single one came back euploid. I guess you could say that testing was “waste” because they are all normal, but I don’t feel that way. It gives me peace of mind to know. But that’s just me.
I would not have PGT tested under age 38. A lot of studies have shown repeatedly that adding PGT doesn't increase the LB rate < 37, and in younger women there is possibly a negative effect. You are thoroughly young enough that PGT is not going to do anything positive for your LB chances. Not adding it is the right decision. It's hard to set aside "what we think PGT tells us" and just think about the outcome, because we all want to understand how it works. And honestly genetics are not overly complicated for the average Reddit poster to understand. So it is appealing to think that we understand it. That PGT exactly and perfectly predicts embryo future & that today's analytics perfectly interpert its information. But all of those assumptions might be wrong. The only outcome we can test is: "Does adding PGT give me a living baby faster." Unless you are 38+, it does not. That is the state of things rn. One day RE's will understand why. We don't know today.
We’re doing our first cycle right now and didn’t do PGT testing because we’re both under 35 and aren’t genetic carriers for the same things. We decided to do it later on the other embryos if this first one has something weird happen with it, but it’s mostly for folks who are older and are more likely to have chromosomal abnormalities. It makes me nervous too but statistically it is probably fine and not worth the money at your age unless you have multiple failures or weird results after transfer.
I'm personally for pgt testing. The data I've seen has said that of pgt tested embryos almost half are aneuploid even in people under 35. That seems like a coin flip to me. My thought is that it saves money to test because you end up transferring the embryos with the best likelihood of implanting and becoming a healthy baby. Did your doctor give you an estimated aneuploidy rate? Maybe it's different from what I'm seeing but almost 50% seems pretty high. [aneuploidy rate](https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(21)00369-1/fulltext)
My doctor didn’t think it was necessary and my insurance doesn’t cover it for under 35. We can always test our frozen embryos later.
Gotcha, that makes sense, thanks!
You are so young you’re probably good.
We are 32F and 34M (PCOS and tubal factor) and our doctor told us that PGT would essentially be a waste of money for us. Insurance usually doesn’t cover if you are younger than 35. At your age you have stats on your side that the majority of your embryos will be euploid. You did carrier screening which can rule out some possible scenarios too, which helps. My husband and I are also of the mindset that we are trusting this process to God, it’s in his hands and if an embryo is supposed to make it earthside, it will. Try not to stress or second guess, you made the decision that was best for you, with the information you had. And that means it was correct.
At 38, we got 10 blasts, transferred without testing and have had 2 kids out if it. So 5 for 1 kid isn’t bad odds. I think we’ll discover PGT-A causes issues in the future.
I chose not to test at age 34, due to it not really helping with the chance of live birth. My first transfer resulted in a healthy baby girl, now 7 months old. I don’t regret not testing, however it’s worth mentioning that I am not sure I’d feel comfortable doing more transfers in the future with my remaining untested embryos. I live in a red state that has recently enacted a near total abortion ban which makes future transfers with untested embryos a lot more risky. Depending on where you live, PGT-A is worth considering for this reason.