Preimplantation genetic screening as an alternative to prenatal testing for Down syndrome: preferences of women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment

HIV couples' anxiety and risk taking during ART

“…Being able to procreate seems to be of existential importance to these women, consistent with findings in trade-off studies in subfertile couples (17,18). A remarkable finding is that almost 30% of couples accepted the costs and burden of ART at HIV-1 transmission rates of 3%, which is nearly equal to the risk of unprotected intercourse (19).…”

Technology requirements for preimplantation genetic diagnosis to improve assisted reproduction outcomes

“…A Dutch survey (98) reported that, where PGD is covered by health insurance, 87% of subfertile patients would chose to undergo PGD if pregnancy rates were unchanged and if 100% of Down syndrome conceptions were detected. Even if pregnancy was reduced from 20% to 14%, 36% of patients would still opt for PGD.…”

“…Aside from the debate concerning the potential of chromosome screening to improve pregnancy rate, it has been shown that 83% of patients choosing PGD wish to prevent trisomic conceptions and would opt for screening even if there were no increase in pregnancy rate, and 36% would request it even if the pregnancy rate was reduced (98). It is clear that patients desire to have healthy live births and those with idiopathic RPL or previous miscarriages are very reluctant to experience the trauma again.…”

Preimplantation genetic screening: Changes in technology and methodology, ethical implications, and areas of future research

“…While PGS clearly benefits those who are screening for lethal aneuploidies, as they would not produce a viable fetus otherwise, it is more difficult to determine where else it is ethical to apply this technology. One example of a present application of PGS for a non-lethal aneuploidy is screening for trisomy 21, which results in Down syndrome (Twisk et al, 2007). PGS for Down syndrome prevents the establishment of a trisomy 21 embryo, and therefore prevents parents from having to make the difficult decision of whether or not to abort a Down syndrome pregnancy; however, a moral question arises as to whether Down syndrome screening should be deemed ethically acceptable (Twisk et al, 2007).…”