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Monday, March 18, 2024

Gender Sex Selection

Gender Selection IVF Related Frequently Asked Questions

On this page, you will find answers to frequently asked questions about gender selection IVF. For information about our gender selection program along with cost and treatment procedures, please visit our “Gender Selection Program” page.

Gender Selection is one of the most sophisticated forms of IVF treatment.

Choosing the sex of your baby, whether male or female, requires a genetic screening tests on your embryos.

These genetic testing procedures require a sophisticated level of technology and a substantial amount of experience.

For this end, knowledge and experience are very important when offering gender selection IVF treatments.

Our team has been offering Pre-Implantation genetic screening and genetic diagnosis for over 17 years and North Cyprus IVF Centre is the only clinic in Europe and the Middle East to offer MicroSort gender selection technologies. Please do not honor clinics that may claim to have this technology as we are the sole owner of the patent in the region. You can confirm this with the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, who is the founder of this technology.

Below, you will find frequently asked questions and their answers regarding our gender selection program at North Cyprus IVF Center. Below questions and answers will provide information about how gender selection is performed before pregnancy, who qualifies for gender selection, cost of gender selection in Cyprus and the treatment options for selecting the sex of your child at North Cyprus IVF Clinic.

1- How do I know which Gender Selection IVF method to choose?

When it comes to gender selection, there are a few alternative methods of treatment. These are:

MicroSort IUI – Least invasive treatment, mostly suited for couples in their 20s where the female patient’s ovarian reserves indicate optimal fertility and the male patient’s semen parameters are within acceptable parameters. Keep in mind that MicroSort is only 75% effective for male gender selection and around 90% effective for female gender selection. Those interested in a 99.9% accurate gender selection technology, IVF with PGD will be a better option.

IVF with PGD – This is the most perfect IVF gender selection treatment available in the sense that it gives us an accuracy of 99.9% with gender selection while it also allows us to screen the embryos for major genetic disorders. So this method is not only a gender selection method, but at the same time, a means of eliminating genetic disorders with your unborn child. This option is suitable for patients younger than 35 years of age or with patients in the “normal fertility” assessment group. Now, with recent changes is IVF regulation, pre-implantation genetic screening cannot be used as a method of selecting the sex of your child, therefore, it needs to be coupled with the MicroSort technology. The reason is, if only PGD is used as a sex selection method, then the sex will be determined only after the embryos have been created, therefore, nearly half of the embryos will be of the “unwanted” sex. Therefore, the ministry of health, in order to avoid this wastage of embryos due to ethical considerations, have adopted this attitude towards gender selection. While gender selection can still be legally offered in North Cyprus, it can only be done so if the “sex selection” part is done via MicroSort.

MicroSort IVF with PGD – This option is mostly suited for couples where the female patient’s ovarian reserves have been depleted. With less than optimal ovarian reserves, the number of eggs that can be harvested will be low. This is where the MicroSort procedure comes in. Sorting the sperm into X and Y bearing cells, we can make sure that most of the eggs will fertilize into embryos of desired sex. MicroSort will help correct for the handicap created by lowered ovarian reserves. However, you should keep in mind that in older age brackets, incidence of genetic defects will increase, therefore, especially after 40 years of age, it is observed that majority of the embryos will carry a genetic defect. This means, even when we combine the MicroSort and PGD methods together, we may not be able to obtain a desired result after a certain age due to lower oocyte/sperm quality.

Choice among these alternative treatment options will depend on a number of factors such as your age, the female patient’s hormone levels, female patient’s gynecological examination and the male patient’s sperm parameters. The female patient’s hormone levels will help us assess her ovarian function as well as oocyte quality. The male patient’s semen parameters will allow us to assess suitability for the MicroSort procedure. While some patients in their 20s would like to opt for the least invasive MicroSort IUI procedure, the MicroSort mechanism requires that the sperm be within certain parameters, otherwise, the sort mechanism does not work effectively. For more information on MicroSort guidelines and required sperm parameters, please check MicroSort Guidelines page.

2- What are success rates with gender selection IVF treatments?

Most patients opting for gender selection are fertile individuals who are able to conceive naturally on their own, but they opt for this option to balance their families. Therefore, infertility is not an issue for most gender selection patients. However, the fact that a couple does not suffer from infertility or did not suffer from infertility in the past does not necessarily mean that there is a 100% success guarantee with gender selection treatments. The chances of success will depend on a number of factors. These include your age, your hormone levels and general level of fertility as well as your husband’s semen characteristics and other factors like the equipment used, doctors’ experience and choice of medication. So it is really misleading to quote a success statistics in general or based on just your age. However, the age based statistics we publish on our website more or less provide an idea of what you will be looking at. Please visit our “Success Rates” page.

3- Why do I need to use medication since I have no issues of infertility?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions from patients undergoing IVF gender selection treatment. The medication used in IVF treatments is to make sure that we are able to obtain multiple eggs and therefore multiple embryos so that we can maximize your chances of success. Without any use of fertility medication, your ovaries are likely to release only one egg in a given menstrual cycle. This single egg may or may not be of optimal quality. With a single egg released, we cannot guarantee that this egg will fertilize and give us a good quality embryo and that this embryo will turn out to be genetically healthy and of desired sex. This is why we need to administer a custom prepared medication protocol which will help us obtain as many good quality eggs as possible so that we can have a good number of high quality embryos to choose from.

4- What is the age limit for IVF treatment?

The legal age limit is 45, but we usually do not encourage patients to have gender selection treatment with their own eggs after the age of 43. Patients usually find it difficult to come to terms with the decline of their fertility. However, regardless of how “fit” or “young looking” you are, your reproductive system tells a different story. Especially after 40 years of age, a woman’s ovarian reserve declines very rapidly and the quality of oocytes remaining in these reserves will be less than optimal. IVF Gender selection treatment demands a decent number of high quality eggs so that we have a decent chance of having healthy embryos that are of desired sex. If your ovarian reserves have been highly depleted, chances are, we won’t be able to obtain multiple good quality eggs, and therefore, we won’t be able to find healthy embryos with the sex of your choice.

5- Which tests will you require for treatment?

We require a series of tests for fertility assessment / fitness for pregnancy as well as infectious disease screening. Each and every test that we order serves a different purpose and each one of these tests will have an implication for your treatment.

For fertility assessment, we need that both male and female partners undergo “Male and Female Fertility Testing” so that we can identify the right treatment program and the medication regimen for you.

All patients undergoing treatment at our practice are required to undergo infectious disease screening. This includes patients undergoing donor treatments as well. The infectious disease tests required by our practice are as follows:

For female patient: Anti-HIV, Anti-HCV, HbsAg, VDRL, Rubella IgG, CMV IgG, and Toxoplasmosis IgG
For male patient: Anti-HIV, Anti-HCV, HbsAg, VDRL.

These infectious disease tests will have to be administered by our own laboratories at North Cyprus IVF Centre. This is a high level safety protocol in place aiming to minimize the risk of cross-contamination of samples handled in our laboratories with blood-borne pathogens that might be introduced into the laboratory by other samples. In order to avoid this, we have stopped accepting infectious disease test results from third-party labs as a new regulation.

6- How do I administer the medication?

Any patient undergoing IVF treatment will need to use certain medication to stimulate her ovaries in order to optimize the outcome of her IVF treatment. This is also true for patients who do not have any issues of infertility and can conceive naturally. IVF medication is not for infertile patients only. The purpose of medication is to stimulate the ovaries so that many eggs can be produced, which is something that gives us the opportunity to have multiple embryos so that the gender selection aspect of your treatment can be performed successfully. Administering medication is relatively easy given that the injections to be used are sub-cutaneous injections and are administered right under the skin. These injections are painless and easy to self-administer. You should visit “Obtaining and Administering IVF Medication” link for a complete explanation on how to mix and arrange the dose of your medication as well as how to administer it. Once you watch the video on this link, you will have a better understanding of how IVF medication is used. You will notice that once you retrieve the necessary amount of medication from the vial, you will have some left over medication in the vial. You will store this in a refrigerator and use the next day. For instance, a vial of Gonal-F 450 iu will give you 600 units of medication once mixed. If your daily dose is, say, 300 iu, you will use half of it and store the other half for the next day.

7- How long will I need to be in Cyprus for?

We know that most of our patients have either work or family commitments. Therefore, we collaborate with prestigious clinics, testing and scan centers so that the preliminary work and your initial treatment can be carried out locally. With your pre-testing and initial preparation carried out locally in your own country, your length of stay in Cyprus will be minimized down to 8 days. However, if you would like to come and stay with us for the entire treatment period (including pre-testing and scans and medication use), you can come to Cyprus for a total of 20 days so that your entire treatment can be organized under our close monitoring from start to finish.

8- Where will we stay while in Cyprus?

We offer three alternatives that cater to different budgets. Please refer to our Accommodation section for more information about the accommodation options during your treatment.

9- How soon after the embryo transfer will I know whether I am pregnant or not?

A beta hCG test will be administered 12 days after your embryo transfer to detect hCG hormone in blood. A beta hCG level of 5 mIU/mL or above will be indicative of a pregnancy. However, “low” results in the range of 5-10 mIU/mL should be approached with caution as such a low level may point to a chemical pregnancy or a late implanting embryo. A re-test should be ordered 48 hours after the initial test for confirmation. If the level rises by more than 70% within 48 hours, then pregnancy is confirmed.

10- Is there anything I need to do after the embryo transfer to help become pregnant?

There will be specific guidelines handed to you after your embryo transfer to let you know what to do and what not to do following the embryo transfer procedure.

11- What is the cost of gender selection at North Cyprus IVF Center?

There are a few alternative gender selection IVF methods and the cost of each IVF gender selection treatment will differ. IVF/ICSI treatment with PGD costs 5,000 Euros at North Cyprus IVF Centre. This is the treatment option we recommend for younger couples below the age of 35. For couples in more advanced age brackets, combining MicroSort with PGD is a better option. This option costs 6,200 Euros. Please keep in mind that the cost of medication, pre-testing and scans, accommodation and your air fare are not included in these quotes.

12- What if I want to screen all my embryos for genetic problems besides choosing the sex of my baby?

North Cyprus IVF Center is proud to be the very first clinic in the region (including neighboring countries) to offer Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), which is the gold standard of pre-implantation genetic screening technologies. Next generation sequencing screen all the embryos for all the chromosomes and checks for chromosomal aneuploidies, translocations, deletions and many other disorders that can be observed at the chromosome level. This level of sophisticated screening technology is NOT available via FISH or Array CGH methods. The cost of next generation sequencing is 500 Euros per embryo on top of standard IVF/ICSI pricing.

For more information about our various gender selection IVF treatment options at North Cyprus IVF Center, please visit our “Gender Selection” page. On this link, you will find information about the procedures involved in gender selection treatment, required tests and preparations and the cost of sex selection at our IVF unit.

Why not Contact Us and get a quote?

Additional Links:

Gender Selection – Cyprus IVF Center


 
 
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