PGT preimplantation genetic screening - IVF success rate enhancing factor

With the topic "PGT TEST - FACTOR FOR INCREASE IVF SUCCESS RATE", a lot of knowledge about assisted reproductive technology was exchanged by leading experts in genetic testing and obstetrics. The program had the presence of Doctor CKII Du Huynh Hong Ngoc (Head of Reproductive Support Unit - Phuong Chau International Hospital) and Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh (Director of GENTIS Testing Center) and received the attraction of a large number of doctors and audiences across the country.

At the program, CKII Doctor Du Huynh Hong Ngoc shared about the current situation of infertility in Vietnamese families, which tends to increase, accounting for about 10-12% of couples in the reproductive age (According to the Ministry of Health). Accordingly, the method to help infertile families to have children early and have healthy children is to perform in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Doctor Ngoc further discussed, in order to successfully perform an IVF case, the PGT test - Preimplantation embryo screening is one of the decisive factors and brings great significance. About 80% of successful IVF cycles involve the embryo, so the PGT technique was born as a "salvage" for cases of implantation failure and repeated miscarriages. PGT test helps to screen good embryos, not carrying abnormalities and not carrying genetic diseases. Thereby helping women increase the rate of pregnancy, conception, reduce the rate of miscarriage and multiple pregnancy.

As the head of the fertility support unit and has performed for many patients, Dr. Ngoc affirmed that in the PGT test, there are many factors to ensure the accuracy of test results such as:
- The embryonologist's procedure for performing an embryo biopsy must be precise and meticulous
- Strict sample preservation process (cold temperature, avoiding affecting sample quality will cause erroneous results)
- Transported to a standard laboratory (ISO), with extensive experience in performing PGT, with new and modern techniques and widely applied in tests such as NSG - new generation gene sequencing.

Therefore, specialists should update their knowledge about assisted reproduction, especially the PGT test, so that they can best assign the patient and find a loved one soon. In addition, doctors should contact reliable testing sites to perform the most accurate test for customers. In addition, doctors should also disseminate information about factors that help in IVF success to infertile families so that couples can have more appropriate awareness and choose the most suitable reproductive support methods.

In addition to the sharing of the Head of Reproductive Support Unit - Phuong Chau International Hospital, the representative of GENTIS, Master Nguyen Quang Vinh (Director of the Fertility Center) also shared a lot of useful information about the PGT test.

The PGT test, also known as Pre-Transfer Genetic Screening, is capable of detecting problems in an embryo such as:
- PGT - A: Detecting abnormal number of 24 chromosomes of embryo
- PGT - SR: Detecting abnormality of chromosomal structure of embryos with size >5Mb
- PGT - M: Detecting genetic abnormalities of single genes (Thalassaemia, Myelodystrophy, Adrenal hyperplasia...)

Up to now, there have been many studies around the world evaluating the significance of PGT in the field of assisted reproduction such as:
- A 2015 and 2016 study published information that using PGT increases the pregnancy rate, reduces the duration of pregnancy, reduces the risk of multiple pregnancies and increases the rate of live births.
- Research by the Medical University in New Jersey (USA) also shows that PGT helps increase the pregnancy rate and live birth rate.
- In Vietnam alone, GENTIS company has had a study published in the international genetic journal "Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, USA" with the content "Development and application of genetic testing before embryo transfer" (PGT-M) for beta thalassemia in Vietnam"
These are the steps that GENTIS has taken in the field of assisted reproduction, in order to affirm its leading position in the field of testing, especially as the first unit to deploy PGT testing in Vietnam since 2014 and has done for more than 30 fertility centers across the country

Master Vinh believes that GENTIS's success and connection with many IVF centers across the country is the rigorous testing process to ensure the accuracy of the results. The process requires close coordination between the fertility unit and the GENTIS Laboratory from taking the biopsy sample, how to store the sample, and how to transport it. The Director of GENTIS Testing Center shared about the implementation process as follows:
- Step 1: IVF - In vitro fertilization is performed and the embryos are grown in embryo culture
- Step 2: Biopsy day 3 or day 5, collect 1 amount of cells. This is an important technique that requires precision and skill of the doctor
- Step 3: Biopsy embryos are transferred to GENTIS Laboratory for analysis
- Step 4: Embryos with normal results are selected for embryo transfer. The remaining normal embryos are frozen for later use

Compared to other units, GENTIS has always proven to be different and superior in technology and ensures the accuracy of the PGTest test. GENTIS uses the entire system of sequencing machines, chemicals and analysis software of Illumina - USA. Around the world, up to 80% of units use Illumina's system with many scientific research publications about accuracy, high resolution, detecting more diseases with small size.
In addition, the time to return results of Illumina is much faster than other brands such as PG-Seq, Chromint (China)... GENTIS's use of the Illumina system brings outstanding advantages to customers to help doctors and couples give birth to healthy babies.
Master Nguyen Quang Vinh further shared, GENTIS's future orientation in the field of reproductive support is to constantly improve and update new services to help meet the needs of doctors as well as help many couples have a genetic disease to have a healthy baby. In 2022, GENTIS launched the PGT MAX 1 test - A superior technology compared to conventional PGT, to help detect embryo abnormalities related to 2 common microdeletion syndromes >2mb in size, Digeorge's Syndrome. and 1p36 deletion syndrome. Thanks to this improvement, GENTIS is gradually realizing the goal of developing assisted reproductive testing, bringing advanced technology in the world to Vietnam.

The selection of a healthy embryo, without genetic defects is a very important factor for successful implementation of an assisted reproduction. Hopefully, the useful information shared by the two experts in the "Genetics Counseling - Discussing with Experts" program this time will help specialized doctors and infertile families to better understand the meaning of infertility genetic screening before embryo transfer. GENTIS will continue to bring more programs to serve doctors and customers.

According to the Public Brand Newspaper