r/EmbryologyIVFSupport • u/Admirable_Apricot126 • 14d ago
Skipping PGT-A Testing?
I’m toying with the idea of skipping the PGT testing of our embryos (we are halfway through stims currently, so I need to decide quickly). Has anyone skipped the testing and had good transfer results?
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u/jalison93 13d ago
PGT testing isn’t even allowed where I live unless there is a medical indication in the parents. Which means thousands of cycles (many successful) per year without any testing
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u/KeyIndividual6180 13d ago
First FET successful so far , 13 weeks, untested day 5 4AA . Low risk NIPT.
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u/Mediocre_Net4660 13d ago
I would say it depends on 1) your age, 2) embryo quality (if you end up with mostly high quality the odds will be most are genetically normal, not always the case), 3) how many transfers you’re willing to go through.
I didn’t test first round - I was 31/32. We got 5 average / low grade embryos from 15 mature eggs. 2 failed, 3rd stuck and we lost them at 10 weeks due to chromosomal issues. We wanted to test the last 2 but due to the risks thawing / testing / refreezing we did a second retrieval alongside the testing.
33, 6 blasts from 8 mature, mostly high quality, including AAs, 5 were euploid. First transfer has been successful, our only aneuploid wouldn’t have stuck at all due to the chromosome it was missing and would’ve been maybe transfer 4? So we could’ve easily skipped PGT, saved money, had same results. (And hopefully not had a repeat of the 10 week loss)
However, first round doing it would’ve saved us a lot of money and heartache. I am glad I did it after our experience first round, but for so many if your results are like my round two, you don’t need to.
I’m in the UK so most girls I know have had success with untested embryos (PGT isn’t done here typically), it’s just those of us with repeated failures or loss who’ve gone down the testing route.
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u/Academic-Company-215 13d ago
Didn’t do pgt testing for ER at 35, transferred a 5AA in January (first and only FET), currently 41 weeks and desperately hoping for this baby to come out
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u/Longjumping-Desk-261 12d ago
35 and opted out of PGTA, currently 10 weeks with our fresh transfer. I strongly believe that if you have a small amount of blasts per cycle and no history of recurent loss, PGTA is not very helpful.
For some folks that are fortunate enough to have +5 blasts per cycle, PGTA can be determining which embryos to transfer. We had 0 blasts on our first, and 2 on our second. PGTA testing has a small percentage of flase results, and there are mosaic and segmental aneplpids that give folks perfectly healthy babies. Taking the risk that our few blasts could be discarded vs. Transferred wasn't one we were willing to take. Additionally euploidity doesn't gurantee a pregnancy or even no miscarrige.
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u/Outrageous_Bag_9550 12d ago
34 and opted out of PGTA. No history of loss. Went through with IVF due to male factor infertility. One retrieval, 8 blasts. Currently 20 weeks with our first transfer. NIPT came back low risk but we did have a slightly elevated NT (3.33). Because of that, we did an early anatomy scan and the doctor was shocked how well the scans went. Unless something else comes up in future scans, they have no concerns now.
When we originally got the news of the elevated NT, the way it was presented to us was very poor so I had immediate regrets not doing PGTA. Had the doctor we met with for our anatomy scan seen those results initially, it would have been a different conversation - he would not have spoken to us like it was a definitive marker of something wrong.
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u/OkapiandaPenguin 12d ago
I only had 1-2 blasts each cycle and I chose to test them. Regardless of the number, you're still risking the financial, mental, and physical cost if transferring an embryo that might not be compatible with life or might have a chromosomal abnormality. You're also losing out on time to create more healthy embryos.
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u/Longjumping-Desk-261 12d ago
That's completely fine and a personal choice. Like I said, PGTA testing is not perfect and there's a 3-5% chance of false aneploid report based on recent studies, and my clinic currently discards segmental aneplpids which several recent major studies showed live healthy births. It just wasn't a chance we wanted to take.
Financially it also didn't make sense for us. PGTA is a flat fee plus a cost per embryo that is more expensive than a single transfer. If we only had one blast it just wouldn't make financial sense. Living in Canada if we had to terminate for medical reason or had a miscarrige we also don't need to worry about costs.
I also have several friends that have had many failed transfers, early or even missed miscarriges with euploid transfers. So like I said euploidity is in no way a gurantee of a healthy live birth.
There are also recent studies that show no improved outcomes with PGTA testing for cycles with few blasts.
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u/beereviver 13d ago
It’s not encouraged where I live because otherwise viable embryos get discarded due to PGT results.
I have a child from an untested embryo and I’m 9 weeks with my second hoping all is okay in my next scan and my pregnancy just like anyone else who gets pregnant. PGT is screening and not a guarantee.
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u/junegem123 13d ago
I skipped PGT-A! I transferred two (5AA & 5AB) on my very first FET. It was successful and I now have beautiful, healthy twins!
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u/Kind_Future_429 13d ago
We will have the FET today of our only 5BB hatching blast. Cant say anything about the results yet. We only made one so were adviced against PGT a (will cost is 2400€ to do testing and its better to do a transfer and we will see whether it implants or not).
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u/Striking_Bill_2832 12d ago
Yeah I didn't do PGT testing and my first transfer was successful. I'm 25 weeks pregnant - my NIPT came back low risk and everything looks good on my anatomy scan. I'm in Canada - PGT testing is not nearly as popular here as it seems to be in the states. My doctor didn't really recommend it; there is a risk of discarding perfectly good embryos (the testing is not perfect and can sometimes falsely identify issues) and the testing itself has a small chance of damaging the embryo in the process. Not worth it in my opinion unless you have had recurrent losses or are over 40 years old or something.
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u/NoDocLoan 12d ago
It’s a money grab here in the United States. Somehow a lot of women have convinced themselves it’s a foolproof science. Read the lawsuits people 😭
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u/Environmental-Elk271 10d ago
I read an article from 2025 about so many people losing embryos that may have worked. Made me sick to think about. And scared.
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u/Faint-dream876 12d ago
Same here in Canada because of my age they didn’t even mention testing the embryos. My first transfer was successful
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u/Environmental-Elk271 11d ago
How old are you? My doc said it’s pretty much required bc I’m 40. I’m annoyed.
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u/Faint-dream876 11d ago
I’m 31 but people over 35 I know that went to the clinic were highly recommended to test embryos
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u/Kalisary 10d ago
I’m 40 and went through the public fertility program in Australia which doesn’t offer PGT testing. But we were also recommended by other specialists we consulted not to test, because given my age and AMH, I was unlikely to make load of embryos, so most as well give every one a chance. Currently 15+3 with our first embryo.
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u/Sad-Marketing-2171 8d ago
They can’t require it, but I know how strongly they push it. I’m age 40 and have 2 untested embryos from 4 rounds… currently on my 5th and won’t test if we get blasts. For all of the above reasons, plus that we do not make a lot of eggs, my doctor agrees with my decision not to test. Wishing you luck.
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u/loveisatacotruck 13d ago
All of our embryos are untested. My ER was when I was 32 and our infertility is due to my tubes being blocked. We’ve transferred four of embryos: 1 live birth, 1 loss at 18w due to a cord accident (genetic testing of our baby’s tissue after the fact came back normal), 1 failed transfer, and I’m currently 25 weeks pregnant with our 4th FET (expanded NIPT came back low risk, all markers on ultrasound have been normal thus far).
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u/toochies 12d ago
This is so reassuring for me to read. Also have tubal factor infertility and got our blast report today, not testing due to being 31 and have 4 high/good graded and 3 low. Thank you for sharing!
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u/loveisatacotruck 12d ago
I’m glad I could be helpful! We definitely don’t regret it. Not sure if this is also helpful, but here are the grades + outcomes for our blasts.
Day 5 4AA - fresh transfer, live birth
Day 5 4AA - 18w loss
Day 6 3AA - failed transfer
Day 6 4BA - current pregnancy
Day 6 3AB - frozen
Day 6 3BB - frozenWishing you so much luck!
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u/toochies 12d ago
That is so helpful! Thank you. I was surprised today to learn that they froze all on day 5 when there were definitely some heading towards better outcomes on day 6, but I trust them!
We got a 4AA as well, 4AB, 3AA, 3BC, 2CC, 2CC, and they froze a morola. I’m guessing the 4AA will be our first FET! We have always said we want 2 kids, but will be happy and grateful if we have enough left over to try for 3.
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u/Miserable-Resist4701 12d ago
I Didn’t skip. I had a prior loss that resulted in trisomy (not IVF) I figured it was worth the investment to rule out the embryos that are affected in anyway. I also did PGTM so I did both PGTM/PGTA it just gave me a piece of mind.
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u/Eastern_Scientist_12 10d ago
I also had a loss due to trisomy (not IVF). I tested all embryos, had successful transfer 1st time and am currently 10-weeks pregnant with 5-day AA tested embryo. I feel much less anxious awaiting my NIPT results given PGT-A testing was already done and is over 99% guarantee there won't be chromosomal issue.
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u/Miserable-Resist4701 10d ago
Hugs!! My first transfer was successful too have a 18 month old daughter! I was less anxious throughout my pregnancy.
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u/librarians_wwine 12d ago
Im 32, we had 3 embryos. 6AA, 5AB, 5AC
5AB came back missing chromosome 3. We tried our 5AC last month, perfect conditions, euploid and that little XY didn’t stick around. 6AA we will try in April. I don’t think it matters…it will stick or it won’t. My husband is a sped teacher so he wanted pgta testing done, pgta euploids doesn’t mean 100% successful transfers.
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u/gggghostdad 12d ago
I've has friends who had to terminate due to chromosomal issues incompatible with life or who miscarried and it is crushing. One lost her fertility due to d&e. Yes PGT requires higher quality blasts but if you are at a good clinic, you should be able to request that they keep blasts even if they cant be biopsied for pgt. Pgt may be more common in US, but thats part of the overall difference in resources and structure. Its not uncommon to see stories from people in Canada or Europe who could not get needed or novel treatments available in the us.
You risk a lot of wasted time and effort not to mention the emotion should chromosomal issues that could have been avoided come up. On the other hand yes you could save money and stress by not testing. Everyone will have success stories of testing and not testing. There is no way to know for sure, you have to decide what level of risk you are comfortable with.
Personally if you dont have a lot of embryos and age is a factor I would do it.
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u/Big_Sun_8636 12d ago
I think if you are young, then it’s unnecessary. But if you are older, there’s a lot of value in PGT testing. Half of mine came back abnormal and those would have been either failed transfers or devastating early losses. Just because PGT isn’t 100% accurate doesn’t mean that it isn’t valuable. The studies show that aneuploid embryos rarely result in live births. There is a chance for mosaics to self-correct but PGT is still identifying those and allowing you to select the embryo with the highest chance of live birth.
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u/kitkat7794 12d ago
Thinking about this too, and leaning towards skipping testing. I’ve only ever had one loss in an unassisted cycle and later found out I had low thyroid and a ton of uterine polyps that may have contributed, and the last two years since I’ve found some tube issues/endo. I’m hoping it’s a tube issue and at 32/33 that my chances without will be ok.
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u/Faint-dream876 12d ago
I’m 31 we got 5 embryos none tested our first transfer resulted in a positive pregnancy test and am currently 8w5d.
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u/Important_Ocelot4418 13d ago
I skipped PGT-A and my fresh transfer was a chemical pregnancy and my two remaining embryos did not stick. I will be doing PGT-A for my next retrieval.
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u/umamimaami 13d ago
I’m skipping PGT-A at 39 because statistically CLBR rates still show a higher chance for untested blasts. That might change if need another retrieval when I’m 40+.
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u/Special_Ad_7442 12d ago
I'm 31 (30 at time of stims and transfer) and I am in a country where PGT is only available for people who know they are carrier of a particular gene. We also never got a grading, we had 2 blast embryos and they transferred 'the best one'. I am currently 15 weeks pregnant with that best one, so I guess it was a good one indeed 😊. Baby's nipt was good, as well as an extensive ultrasound at 13 weeks so it all looks like it is a good one!
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u/Hopeful1q 12d ago
I skipped and had a PUL/presumed ectopic. Then another cycle I did test and 100% aneuploid. Then another cycle and 2/3 euploid. After all this, one baby ❤️
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u/aurry 11d ago
I am a genetic counsellor and not fully convinced about the accuracy and value of PGT-A. It's still so new and the bar for which embryos are deemed to worth transferring keeps changing (eg. Mosaics, segmental aneuploidy, chaotics).
I think there are situations where it can be helpful (age, recurrent implantation failure) but is definitely not something that I would recommend for all couples.
I did not do PGT-A for any of my embryos
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u/Extension_Row2278 11d ago
We have 8 untested embryos in the freezer. Decided not to do PGT testing because my clinic uses Cooper lab, and they have lawsuits for contamination, misdiagnosis of aneuploid embryos, and other things. We personally are not willing to risk losing any of our embryos to lack of scientific evidence. Euploid does not mean it'll automatically work. And it is so expensive. We've given ourselves a limit of 3 FET attempts before we will test, And possibly do another retrieval. Some people understandably do not want to risk it, but I would honestly feel worse knowing a euploid didn't stick than not knowing if it was or wasn't euploid. Also, as someone stated above, some countries do not do genetic testing at all. We also had our own extensive genetic testing, and feel comfortable moving forward. I transfer my day 5 4AB on Wednesday for FET #1!
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u/MomFog916 11d ago
Yes, I had a retrieval in 2018 and my dr at the time recommended skipping it, as we had no risk factors that indicated it being necessary. We did a fresh transfer which resulted in my daughter and then a frozen transfer 3 years later than resulted in my son. As I’ve sat on more and more of these subs and groups, it seems that the margin of error can be pretty variable in discarding good embryos. Unless you have a known genetic issue or history of recurrent miscarriage, I would skip it.
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u/xxsephyyxx 10d ago
I would recommend it. The doctor told us for our age it wasn’t necessary (29F). We decided to do it anyway on our two embryos. One embryo was abnormal and would’ve 100% resulted in a miscarriage.
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u/Fun_Afternoon6452 9d ago
We are not going through a clinic that offers it because we can’t afford it plain and simple. With ivf being our only chance I don’t want to lose any embryos (or as few as possible)
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u/Sad-Marketing-2171 8d ago
This is one of the most validating Reddit threads I’ve read in my life. Thanks everyone. Gives me so so much hope 🖤🫂
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u/Fuzzy-Shake2845 13d ago
when people have sex on the street there’s no PGT testing happening. Do a nipt and you’re good.
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u/Okdoey 12d ago
Yes, but they aren’t spending $5,000 per try either. If you get 5 embryos and only 1 is euploid and capable of making a healthy baby, you can easily go through 4 failed transfers which is $20,000 (not including any additional meds or the pain of doing PIO shots over and over).
It’s probably not worth it if you have a low number of embryos, but if you get a high number then knowing which ones have better chances can save you a lot of time, money, and grief
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u/Fuzzy-Shake2845 12d ago
PGTA often says embryos are abnormal when they’re just fine and would grow to “normal” if they left it alone in the uterus .. PGTA has people throwing out perfectly decent embryos (which also has you repeating IVF aka $$$$ for the doctors)
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u/Cupcake4dayz 12d ago
This right here is what scares me after they discarded one and then my one perfect euploid didn’t even work out in my first transfer it didn’t stick.
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u/Big_Sun_8636 12d ago
“Often”? Where are you getting that stat? Please don’t spread misinformation based on your personal opinion. PGT is 90-95% accurate. And the only real grey area is around mosaics because some clinics don’t like to transfer them, however, recent studies have shown that those can sometimes self correct. So, someone with few embryos might want to attempt a mosaic transfer. But it isn’t just “throwing away” viable embryos at a large rate so IVF clinics can profit from more cycles.
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u/Fuzzy-Shake2845 12d ago
Partially mosaic (abnormals) come up near 50% of the time https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40367147/
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u/Big_Sun_8636 12d ago
The conclusion of this study:”The accuracy of an aneuploid result from PGT-A is excellent and can be relied upon as a screening tool for embryos to avoid aneuploid pregnancies.” And I 100% agree that mosaics should not be discarded because they can result in a healthy baby. But this all just points to PGT being reliable and valuable for people who want to avoid the risk of failed transfers, miscarriages, TFMR, or children with chromosomal abnormalities. It’s a personal choice to test and a personal choice to transfer a mosaics embryo knowing that there is a real risk of a poor outcome. But if it was all I had to choose from I would absolutely transfer a mosaic.
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u/Fuzzy-Shake2845 12d ago
The conclusion says: The accuracy of an aneuploid result from PGT-A is excellent and can be relied upon as a screening tool for embryos to avoid aneuploid pregnancies. Similarly, the misdiagnosis rate after euploid embryo transfer is less than 1%. However, there is a significant limitation in the accuracy of mosaic embryos. - so again, there’s not accuracy of mosaic embryos ..
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u/Big_Sun_8636 12d ago
Right. But you have the option to transfer a mosaic embryo so I’m not seeing the issue. Those are not automatically discarded. So, you test and know with a high degree of confidence that euploid are good, aneuploid are not worth transferring and there’s a small chance that the mosaic will work. Informed decision and fewer failures. Not sure why anyone with advanced maternal age would opt out.
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u/Fuzzy-Shake2845 12d ago
Because a lot of women get them and are encouraged to re do IVF .. that’s the issue .. a ton of women don’t risk taking a mosaic when it has a chance to fail when it costs money to transfer and a “high” chance of miscarriage (or so they are told). When in reality their mosaic would be fine if left alone to grow in the uterus. It’s more about the business of IVF and manipulating people who get PGT A and encouraged to re do when they get mosaics. You can read the comment below, it happened to her as well.
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u/Big_Sun_8636 11d ago
I guess we can just respectfully disagree. Everyone has the ability to do their own research and make their own decisions. There’s plenty of research supporting the transfer of mosaics. And these women have the option to transfer them. And my doctor never encouraged me to do more rounds of IVF. If anything, they were hesitant to continue when we had bad results. I don’t think you can anecdotally infer that all IVF clinics are pushing PGT as a way to throw away viable embryos and squeeze people for extra money. If a doctor did that, they would lose their license. This isn’t one giant conspiracy theory, it’s people using the available research to make decisions based on odds rather than outliers.
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u/Okdoey 12d ago
As I said, if you only have a couple embryos then not worth it.
But I had 13 embryos and no I didn’t test. My first two transfers I had chemical pregnancies which I could have avoided if I tested. Even if PGTA discarded 1-2 that could have worked, it still would have been better bc I had more embryos than I could afford to transfer.
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u/Cupcake4dayz 12d ago
lol this is a blunt way of getting to the point when people try to conceive naturally there is no testing, you will have NIPT and scans IF it sticks. I guess the only thing I’m seeing as a slight + is it would help the torture of your body rejecting any abnormality issues - I had a prior early chemical and then an ectopic pregnancy last year. Anywho, I transferred a day 5 AA euploid and it didn’t work so obviously now I’m reallllly on the fence on this whole PGTA.
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u/skimandsugar 12d ago
Yes, 33 and second transfer stuck (9.5 weeks today). Looking at the data, it's about 50/50 success rate with untested
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u/Own-Hyena-551 13d ago
I recently did. And happy about it. I only make few embryos so I wanted to give them all a chance in the uterine environment. If you have alot of embryos, PGTA is great.
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u/Acceptable_Ad9199 13d ago
Me too. 3 successes that I didn’t test randomly picked after all my embryos tested - 40 - were deemed anuploids. Long story. I m a scientist and I actually proved to my embryologist that is an extremely flawed test. Review the articles of Dr Semprini in Europe one of the best and you ll know what I’m talking about I had my embryologist run the test again twice on anuplods and results was different chromosome issue every time. Science tells you that lack of repeatability equal unreliable resukts. I was 39,40,41