Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos is not resting on its previous achievements. It has continued to find more and better medical solutions that are in line with the world best practices in dealing with fertility related issues.
This time around, the centre just achieved a new feat in the course of rendering quality seamless and very effective service to the patients. It has introduced a new technique called Non-Invasive Preimplantation Genetic Testing (niPGT) aimed at improving the outcomes of In vitro fertilization (IVF) for couples who seek it.
The new technique which is the first to be introduced in Nigeria is the safest in Screening an embryo and it does it without the invasive methods.
The Chief Embryologist at Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, described what the test means and how it works.
“Non-Invasive Preimplantation Genetic Testing (niPGT) for aneuploidy means before implantation takes place, we know that reproduction is divided into 2 parts; the fertilization and then the implantation. IVF takes part of the fertilization. We bring the sperm and the egg together and we replace it back into the woman. And then implantation takes place in the woman. This test must be done before we take the embryo back into the woman.
“The genetic testing is done for different reasons; to see whether we can do the chromosomes. This means that we can look at the numbers of the chromosomes. Chromosomes are the 23 pairs of strands that we all have in our cells. When we have an abnormal number, the 23 pairs are supposed to come one from each parent. So that’s why we have 23 pairs. The last pair is the sex chromosome. We can look at these chromosomes and look at the numbers. Sometimes you can have 1 instead of 2. Sometimes, you can have 3 instead of 2. And this is what we call aneuploidy that is abnormal in chromosomes.
“We have seen that this is the commonest reason why there’s either implantation failures or even recurrent miscarriages. This was a few years ago, when we first carried out a test for aneuploidy and it was like a major breakthrough. But then, the only way we could screen for the aneuploidy traditionally was to take a sample from the embryo and test if the chromosomes are normal in their number structure.
“But now, today, we are introducing for the first time in Nigeria, the Non-Invasive method of testing aneuploidy. There is now the non-invasive way that you don’t need to take the sample of the embryo anymore. And you can still get the same result being able to tell whether the embryo can become a baby. This is because that’s the main important thing that we do. If the embryos have abnormal numbers of chromosomes, they can become normal babies. But for some, that’s why we see babies with down syndromes. They have chromosomal numbers that can still sustain life but the majority of the chromosomal disorders can’t sustain life. But those who can sustain life still turn out to become abnormal babies. That’s why it’s so important to be able to screen for aneuploidy.
Dr. Ajayi didn’t hide how excited he was with the great feat achieved.
“Today, we can actually screen for aneuploidy without you having to take a biopsy from the embryo. I’m so excited talking about one of the most exciting advancements in reproductive today.”
He also mentioned a few of the positives offered by NiPGT-A over traditional preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-A) that involves embryo biopsy.
“The advantages are the same worldwide, but cost is one thing that is very important in this part of the world. So we believe that this is going to reduce costs. But why do people do IVF in the first place? It’s for them to get babies. So it’s also going to improve the success rate of IVF because we’ll be able to select embryos that are most likely to become babies.
“It reduce the time to pregnancy when you do IVF, when we can choose the best embryos for you, and now the cost is even reduced, and then, of course, the limited risk to embryos, also, that it is not likely that there is any embryo damage, because there is nothing invasive being done with embryos.
Clinical Embryologist at Fertility Centre, Roselyn Obasa-Gbadebo hereby applauded the centre for the novel technique introduced. She informed that facilities at Nordica had gone through the validation protocol and were certified as competent enough to carry out the NiPGT-A test on patients.
“Kudos to Nordica. We have gone through the validation protocol and we’ve been certified to proceed. We have a very high score. 80 percent is the minimum in terms of the concordance rates. We have obtained as high as 87.5 percent concordance rate.
