Research applied to Reproductive Medicine

Achieving pregnancy is a synonym of hope, and even more so in the case of patients who were forced to resort to the help of assisted reproduction in order to conceive a baby.

In any event, these feelings of joy are always accompanied by a certain amount of concern about the health of the unborn baby. In addition to thoughts about the future name or the colour of the room of the baby, there is also the uncertainty as to whether the baby will be born healthy, if the evolution of the pregnancy will be adequate or even if the birth will go well.

Fortunately, today, thanks to advances in genetic research applied to assisted reproduction, we not only have the possibility of selecting those embryos with the best chances of implanting, but also the ones that do not present any type of anomaly in their number of chromosomes.

Do you want to know how we carry out this work in our laboratories?

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMBRYO SELECTION IN THE ASSISTED REPRODUCTION LABORATORY

Research applied to Reproductive Medicine never ceases to amaze us with its advances. Over the last few years, we have seen how the analysis and study of genetics has managed to increasingly refine the selection of embryos in order to achieve not only the pregnancy of patients who come to an assisted reproduction centre to conceive, but also the birth of a healthy baby.

This way, following a genetic analysis, we have the possibility of selecting only those embryos with the best chances of achieving a viable pregnancy and then transferring them to the patient to ensure the birth of a healthy baby.

In this case, the genetic analysis of the embryos is performed as part of an In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)treatment. As we have previously explained, In Vitro Fertilisation consists of the union of the oocyte, either from the patient or from a younger donor, with the sperm from her partner or from a donor, in our laboratory. As a result of this fertilisation process, we obtain the embryos that will later be transferred to the patient.

Once the fertilisation process has been completed, the embryos are kept in the incubators of our laboratory. These incubators recreate the same conditions that the embryos would have inside the uterus of the mother and, in addition, they allow us to monitor their correct development and evolution.

When these embryos have reached their fifth day of development in the incubators, which is when they reach the blastocyst stage, they are biopsied by our embryologists. By means of this small biopsy we can obtain a sample of genetic material that will be analysed to select only those that are free of chromosomal abnormalities (and in some cases of specific genes) and therefore have greater chances of implanting and giving rise to pregnancy.

This exhaustive analysis of embryos is called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and it is also recommended in the following situations:

Recurrent miscarriages
Advanced maternal age
Previous IVF failed attempts
Low semen quality
Karyotype alteration
Monogenic diseases

DOES THE TRANSFER OF A SINGLE EMBRYO INCREASE THE CHANCE OF ACHIEVING THE BIRTH OF A HEALTHY BABY?

The legislation in the field of assisted reproduction in Spain allows the transfer of up to 3 embryos simultaneously. Despite this, there seems to be a growing consensus on the benefits of transferring only one previously selected embryo to the patient. In the scientific community this is known as ‘Single Embryo Transfer’.

While this may not always be the case, it is true that there are associated risks for both mother and baby in multiple pregnancies, hence the trend towards single embryo transfer. Several studies indicate that multiple pregnancies increase the risk of premature birth, low birth weight, failure to develop properly or even the possibility of giving birth to babies with some kind of congenital defect. Furthermore, as far as the future mother is concerned, multiple pregnancies increase the risk of caesarean sections and premature births, as well as the risk of a significant increase in blood pressure that can lead to complications during childbirth. All these factors are the reason why single embryo transfer is becoming more widely used as a routine procedure.