What next for preimplantation genetic screening?

Abstract

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy screening (preimplantation genetic screening - PGS) has been used to detect chromosomally normal embryos from subfertile patients. The main indications are advanced maternal age (AMA), repeated implantation failure, repeated miscarriages and severe male factor infertility. Many non-randomized PGS studies have been published and report an increase in implantation rate, and/or a decrease in miscarriage rate. Recently, two randomized controlled trials have been conducted on patients with AMA as the only indication. Neither study showed a benefit in performing PGS using live birth rate as the measure of success. The debate on the usefulness of PGS is ongoing; the only effective way to resolve the debate is to perform more well-designed and well-executed randomized clinical trials. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved.