Sponsored by Fertility Specialistsbrof Texas
Written by Dr. Jerald Goldstein
I have met many couples in my years of practice who desperately wantedbrto have a specific gender for their next child. Maybe they already had a boy andbrwanted to have a girl in order to balance their family or maybe for whateverbrreason they just wanted a child of the opposite sex.
Genetic screening or family balancing is a technique that has becomebrmore popular over recent years especially given that when combined with inbrvitro fertilization (IVF) it is exceedingly accurate.While the desire forbrfamily balancing goes back to ancient Egyptians, there have been a number ofbrmethods that have been reported to help but often failed to produce thebrselected sex of the child.
Until recently the success has not been high enough to make itbrrealistic to offer to our patients this service. Preimplantation genetic diagnosisbr(PGD) was originally developed to allow embryos to be tested for geneticbrdiseases and thereby only transfer embryos that were genetically normal intobrthe mother's uterus. The benefit of doing this is understandable givenbrthat it allows parents who carry a genetic disease to minimize if not eliminatebrthe possibility of transferring the particular genetic illness to theirbrchildren.
Now however, with the recent advances in reproductive technologiesbrinvolving IVF the success rates of PGD has improved tremendously and approachesbr100% and makes gender selection possible. The process does involve IVF in orderbrfor PGD to be performed. This would require the female partner to takebrmedications in order to stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Afterbrthe mature eggs are retrieved they are fertilized in the laboratory with herbrhusband's sperm, the process that takes 3-5 days. The embryologist thenbrbiopsy's each embryo by removing one of the embryo's cells. The samples arebrthen expedited to a specialized genetics laboratory where they are analyzedbrimmediately so that the genetically normal embryo of the desired gender can bebrtransferred back to the mother's uterus as soon as possible.
It is important to use a facility that has a proven track recordbrwith IVF and has an experience, Ph.D embryologist. Moreover, it is important tobrreview their IVF success rate should be available from the prior years.
Our position at Fertility Specialists of Texas is that everybody has abrstory, and reasons that are different for wanting to choose the sex of theirbrchild, and can range from medical to personal. I feel it is important for youbrto know what options are reasonable and success rate of taking home abrbaby.
Jerald S. Goldstein, M.D.,a native Texan, is the founder and medical director at Fertility Specialists of Texas. He is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology andbrReproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He received his Bachelor of Sciencebrdegree with honors from Tulane University and graduated from the University ofbrTexas Southwestern Medical School. Dr. Goldstein's passion for helping couplesbrachieve a pregnancy is reflected in his kind and compassionatebrrelationship he develops with patients.
Following his residency and fellowship, Dr.brGoldstein was an Assistant Professor in the Division of ReproductivebrEndocrinology at Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis.
Dr. Goldstein is the author of scientificbrpublications in peer-reviewed journals including and Fertilitybrand SterilityObstetrics and Gynecology
He is a member of the medical staff at brBaylor Medical Center in Frisco as well as Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.br Dr. Goldstein is a member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine,brAmerican College of Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as the Society forbrReproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (SREI).
Dr. Goldstein's areas of expertisebrinclude in vitro fertilization, recurrent pregnancy loss, polycystic ovarianbrsyndrome,endometriosis, donor egg, pre-implantationbrgenetic diagnosis, and fertility preservation in couples undergoing therapy for cancer.