PGD may decrease pregnancy success rate

On the heels of the study that says PGD does not increase the rate of birth defects in IVF babies, a new Dutch study suggests that PGD actually decreases the pregnancy success rate in older women. The study showed that the live birth rate for older women who had PGD as part of IVF was 24 percent compared to 35 percent in women who had IVF without preimplantation screening.

The study was performed at the Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam on 408 women between 35 and 41 years old. If the results are correct then it is rather ironic since PGD is normally performed to detect abnormalities and also to select the healthiest possible embryos for implantation with the goal to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy. In older women the opposite may actually be happening.