A NOVEL technique that improves and assesses the chromosomal makeup of embryos to improve Invitro Fertilization, IVF, outcomes has been introduced in Nigeria.
Known as Non-invasive Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy , the technique reduces potential risks associated with traditional biopsy procedures, making it much safer and more accurate.
Ajayi told Vanguard that NiPGT-A enhances outcomes for IVF procedures and that individuals and couples in Lagos and environs facing infertility challenges can enjoy its benefits. “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.
“We bring the sperm and the egg together and then we replace into the woman and then implantation takes place in the woman. But so this test must be done before we replace the embryo with the woman and the genetic testing. For different reasons, we want to see whether we can do the chromosomes, which means that we can look at the number of the chromosomes.”“When we have an abnormal number, the 23 pairs are supposed to come into one pair, one from each parent.
The majority can sustain life, but those that can sustain life also turn out to be abnormal babies. So that is why it is so important for us to be able to screen for aneuploidy, and we are saying that we can screen for aneuploidy without having to take a biopsy from the embryo.