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Age at PGD - competency vs. normalicy

By: Mike Reed, Ph.D., 06 May 2006

Question: In women who are already older, circa 45 yrs old, undergoing PGD - will the genetically normal embryos be less competent due to age? Based on age data in general, mitochondrial issues, chromosomal aging perhaps, my belief is yes, the competency will be reduced. The physicians would like opinions on how many post PGD normal embryos to replace in women of older reproductive age. Without PGD, we tend to replace 3 embryos in this age group. Thanks Mike

Replies (1) Write a reply... Hi Mike In my experience I found older women who never become pregnant or had babies in the past have less chance (almost nil) of getting pregnant at their 40's unless they had donor eggs. Did you try to grow the PGD normal embryos to blastocyst stage? We do not do PGD in our clinic but every time when I try to do day 5 ET on older patients who failed with good grade embryos at day 2 or 3 ET, I find no blastocysts on day 5. I recenly had a patient 43 yrs old who had a child before (previous marriege) and became pregnant with day 5 one blastocyst ET. (She had 7 good grade on day 2/3 and only one blast). Also as you mentioned, endometrial receptivity and other chemical/molecular issues are involved as well. It is a very complex matter to say yes or no. Hope this is useful. Shantal - Rajah - 23 May 2006