Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)

Abstract

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PDG) can be regarded as an early form of prenatal diagnosis. As the name implies, the process is performed before the implantation of the embryos. This helps the couple to start a pregnancy free of the inherited disease at risk in
their family thus avoiding the problems associated with termination of pregnancy. (1) The first pregnancies with PGD were a series of couples at risk of various X-linked recessive diseases in 1989. (2) The embryos were sexed by the identification of the presence of Y-sequence in the embryonic DNA. From then on, PGD has developed and improved rapidly. At present, the
cumulative data reveals referral data on 886 couples, cycle data on 1318 PGD cycles and data on 163 pregnancies and 162 babies were collected. (3) To date, reports of clinical applications of PGD include