A new technique that increases the possibility of conceiving in older women in IVF: CCS (Comprehensive Chromosome Screening)
Chromosome Screening May Increase IVF Success in Aged Women…
The results of a clinical trial presented at the American Society for Reproductive Health (ASRM) congress held in San Diego, USA, last month show that a new chromosome screening method increases the probability of getting pregnant in women who want to become mothers at an advanced age in IVF applications.
In this new technique, embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization are first tested with the CCS (Comprehensive Chromosome Screening) method to detect significant chromosomal abnormalities. For this, samples are taken from the embryos at the blastocyst stage, consisting of about 100 cells.
CCS tests whether each embryo has 46 normal chromosomes, 23 from the mother and father. Genetically normal embryos are stored frozen for 1-2 months to be thawed later before being transferred to the mother’s womb. This storage period allows time for the hormonal balance of the woman, which has been disrupted due to IVF treatment, to return to normal.
In a randomized controlled trial on 60 patients, this new technique was compared with the standard embryo screening method, in which embryo quality is determined only by looking at the images under the microscope.
According to the researchers, the CCS technique increased pregnancy success rates from 33% to 61% in a group of patients aged 38-42 years.
In addition, the researchers noted that none of the women to whom the CCS-screened embryos were transferred had a miscarriage in the first three months, and six of the 30 women to whom the embryos tested with the standard screening were transferred had a miscarriage in the first three months.
According to this study, if the embryo of a woman aged 38-42 has a normal chromosome number, the pregnancy success rate does not depend on the woman’s age. In other words, it has the same pregnancy success rate as a 32-year-old woman (60%).
As a woman ages, the probability of producing an embryo with an abnormal number of chromosomes (aneuploidy) increases. By the age of 40, 75% of a woman’s embryos are aneuploid, which increases the likelihood of miscarriage and also increases the risk of chromosomal abnormalities such as Down Syndrome in the offspring.
Biologist Basak Balaban, Head of the Laboratory of the American Hospital IVF Unit and the head of the World Association of Reproductive Health Scientists (ALPHA), stated that the new technique is expected to increase the pregnancy rates with IVF in older women and mirror the causes of failure in couples who fail despite repeated attempts.
Balaban stated that the routine application of the new technique has begun. The next step in evaluating this technique is expected to be a more comprehensive study examining the conditions of the children born. While Balaban states that research is still needed to confirm the results, she adds that CCS has the potential to revolutionize infertility treatments and IVF.
You can visit our IVF Turkey page to get detailed information about IVF treatment and how the processes work in Turkey.
You can get information about IVF Turkey cost on this page.
REFERENCES:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25769434/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23768623/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26986742/
