04
Genetic testing does not make embryos better. It tells you which of the embryos you already have are worth transferring — which matters most when age has reduced how many of them are chromosomally normal.
Screens the five chromosomes behind most viable aneuploidies — 13, 18, 21, X and Y. Its advantage is speed: results come back fast enough to transfer a fresh embryo in the same cycle, which for an international patient means one trip instead of two. Its limitation is scope: it says nothing about the other eighteen chromosome pairs.
Next-generation sequencing across all 23 pairs. Embryos are biopsied at the blastocyst stage on day 5 and frozen while the results are processed, with transfer 2–3 weeks later. It gives a far more complete picture and is the stronger option for recurrent miscarriage, repeated implantation failure, or age above 38 — provided you can accommodate the second trip.
For couples who carry a known single-gene condition — cystic fibrosis, thalassaemia, spinal muscular atrophy and similar. The test is built specifically for your family's mutation, which takes several weeks of preparation before the cycle can start. Tell me early if this applies to you.
It does not create normal embryos where there are none. In a patient with very few eggs, a full PGT-A round can end with nothing to transfer — a true result, but an expensive and demoralising one. Where the expected embryo count is low, it is often better to transfer without testing and accept a lower chance per attempt. I will say so if that is what your numbers suggest.
Worth knowing
Sex selection is legal in North Cyprus and is not legal in many patients' home countries. Testing that reports X and Y necessarily reveals sex. If that is a line you do not wish to cross, say so and the report can be restricted.
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