Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) Improves Pregnancy Outcome for Translocation Carriers with a History of Recurrent Losses

Objective: To determine if preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for translocation carriers with three or more pregnancy losses reduces loss rates.

Design: Retrospective review of data.

Setting: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis laboratory servicing IVF groups.

Patient(s): Patients (n = 192) undergoing PGD for either a reciprocal translocation or Robertsonian translocation who had three or more previous pregnancy losses.

Intervention(s): Preimplantation genetic diagnosis for translocations.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Pregnancy loss rate, pregnancy success rate defined as delivery of at least one child or an ongoing pregnancy in the third trimester, and length of time to success.

Result(s): Pregnancy loss rate was significantly reduced to 13% post-PGD compared with 88.5% in previous non-PGD pregnancies and to 35% to 64% from naturally conceived pregnancies as reported in the literature. Pregnancy success rate was 87%. Conception occurred after an average of 1.4 cycles or <4 months.

Conclusion(s): Individuals with translocations who have experienced three or more losses benefit from PGD by realizing a significant reduction in loss rate and improvement in rate of success of pregnancy. Length of time to conceive is also dramatically reduced compared with data in the literature for similar populations not undergoing PGD.