Pre-Genetic Diagnostic (PGD) department

(PGD) gives the possibility to genetically diagnose the condition of embryos before being returned to the mother's womb, allowing couples with a genetic pathology to know the genetic characteristics of the fetus before returning them to the mother's womb. What is PGD or preimplantation genetic diagnosis? PGD is a technique that provides information about the gene make-up of the cells found in an embryo (a fertilized egg). An embryo biopsy removes about 3-8 cells from each day 5 embryo (a blastocyst), then cells are sent to a lab for testing. The embryo is usually frozen and implanted later. PGD can be used to identify approximately 2,000 inherited single gene disorders and is 98 percent accurate identifying affected and unaffected embryos.