MONTREAL, Canada - Embryos created in fertility clinics have far more genetic defects than was previously thought, a series of studies have revealed. The risk of embryos having genetic defects remains high even if young and physically healthy women donate the eggs.
The studies say that these defects could lead to multiple pregnancies and increase the risk of miscarriages and premature abortions. Fertility specialists are alarmed enough to suggest that a routine DNA screening should be undertaken before embryos are implanted into the uterus. Fertility clinics are aware of the fact that older women have genetically deficient eggs, but had assumed that these genetic defects would not be found in eggs donated by younger and reproductively healthy women. It is for this reason that they solicit women in their early to late 20s.
However, these new findings point to the fact that more than 42 percent of all eggs donated by all women irrespective of their age and reproductive health carry genetic defects that is serious enough to prevent the embryo from maturing into a fetus. Research findings presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Montreal on Tuesday have highlighted a new technique to screen embryos. Jeffrey Nelson of the Huntingdon Reproductive Centre in California presented the findings. He used a pioneering technique called the preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to screen 289 embryos that were created from relatively healthy egg donors. It was found that 42 percent of the eggs had chromosomal defects. The range was as low as 28 percent and as high as 83 percent in some women. "We had always assumed that embryos created from eggs donated by younger women would not have these defects. But just the fact that we are seeing this high rate of abnormality suggests that we should be using (PGD) more," he commented.
Infertility has become the jinx of the new generation and fertility clinics are seen as a safe answer. However, the above research findings suggest that much more needs to be done to overcome the fallibilities of IVF.
