First, consents need to be signed.
You will be given PGT consents by Carolina Conceptions along with your other IVF consent forms to be signed with a notary or in the office. If you are interested in reading the PGT consent it is listed on the website. You will also be required to fill out a consent form with the genetics company Igenomix. You should expect a call from the genetics company within the week of your egg retrieval at the phone number you have listed in your chart. They will provide you with the necessary consent forms and means to creating an account for payment.
Then you will be contacted by the embryologist.
Following your egg retrieval, you will be contacted by the embryologist on days 1,3,5 and 6. The embryologist will confirm that your plan includes genetic testing on the embryos and ask if you have been in contact with the genetics company. The embryologist will also confirm that you would like us to biopsy all possible embryos that make it to that stage on day 5 and day 6. We always recommend to biopsy all possible embryos as you never know how many of the them will come back as normal, although it is completely your choice if you would like a specific number of embryos biopsied.
The day of Biopsy.
On day5 and day6 the embryologist will look at your embryos and see if any of them have reached the correct stage. In order for us to be able to biopsy we need the embryos to be in what is called an expanded blastocyst stage. If the embryos are too small on day5 we will give them another day and check them on day6. We do not want you to worry too much if you don’t have any embryos for biopsy on day5 as we see many patients that only have day6 embryos for biopsy.
When your embryos are ready for biopsy, 3-4 cells will be taken from the trophectoderm part of the embryo. These cells are placed in a specific tube labeled with the embryo number and placed in the freezer. Your embryo will be frozen the same day the biopsy occurs and will REMAIN at Carolina Conceptions. Since many patients have embryos to biopsy over multiple days we will hold the biopsied cells at Carolina Conceptions until all possible embryos have been biopsied. All of the cell samples will then be sent to Igenomix for the testing together.
The Results
Once the biopsied cells have been sent to Igenomix it will take a week to 10 days for Carolina Conceptions to receive the results. Once we receive the results an embryologist will call you and go over them with you, detailing how many embryos are normal or abnormal.
The follow up
You will need to schedule a follow up with your physician to go over the embryo biopsy report in more detail as well as to come up with a plan moving forward. The follow up appointment should not be scheduled on a date before the biopsy results are in. We recommend a follow up at the earliest of 2 weeks after your egg retrieval. You will also need to schedule an FET class if you plan on moving to the transfer. Many patients schedule the follow up and FET class for the same day out of convenience but it is not necessary.
More information
If you would like to know more information on what exactly the PGT-A testing will tell you, the process, or what the results might indicate, Igenomix offers a free webinar for patients. The link below will take you to their site where you can sign up for one of the webinars. Igenomix also offers free genetic counselor consultations to discuss the results of your embryo’s genetics.
Igenomix website: www.igenomix.us
Webinar Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/3302170270655749899