Sex Selection FAQs

This is perhaps THE most important question that can be asked. Of the few centers that offer this highly advanced procedure, there are only a very few that provide PGD SUB-SPECIALIST Ph.D. EMBRYOLOGISTS to carry out the critical biopsy on your newly developed embryos.

We have recently heard from several patients shopping sex selection programs that very few programs were able to guarantee that a Ph.D. SUB-SPECIALIST EMBRYOLOGIST (a DOCTOR-SCIENTIST DEDICATED TO EMBRYO BIOPSY FOR SEX SELECTION) would be available to perform the crucial aspects of this highly complex procedure. They were advised that IVF technicians were "adequate" for all phases of the procedure. We disagree. We suggest that you request IN WRITING an assurance that a Ph.D. SPECIALIST in Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) will be involved in carrying out your procedure.

Request the qualifications of the DOCTOR overseeing the procedure and request that ONLY a Doctor with advanced expertise and training perform the PGD portion of the procedure. As in our Center, other Centers dedicated to the highest quality in sex selection science will have no problem providing you the name and qualifications of the Doctor performing this important laboratory service. Accept NO excuses or alternative explanations for why such a specialist will not be fulfilling your critical requests.

Ask if there is a full time, on-site Ph.D. embryologist at the facility. While the recent cost-saving trend has been to allow the highly qualified laboratory directors to be "traveling consultants" (that is, they work at outside programs or Universities and staff the local facility with lesser qualified technicians, only visiting the Center intermittently), at The Fertility Institutes, we feel this to be a less than optimal arrangement that has the potential to compromise your chances for success.

We maintain not one, but FOUR Ph.D. (Laboratory Scientist Doctors)who oversee and perform all of our critical embryo biopsy for PGD procedures. If you read that the "Laboratory Director" at a facility is a "consultant" or other synonym, and is NOT at the Center for the biopsies, you are well advised to reconsider this program, even if the costs, on the surface, appear to be lower. The fact is, highly skilled specialists, as with most things in life, are a more costly initial option. In the end, however, if your desired result is not obtained, the small savings obtained by using inferior methods is no savings at all. We employ seberal of the world's LEADING PGD-BIOPSY Ph.D. specialists with MANY publications made in leading medical journals about the science of PGD and the genetic studies used to determine gender. We are proud to provide you all of the details of this remarkable scientist's achievements with our Center upon request.

When considering gender selection centers, we feel it important to also take note of the quality of the information provided you. A quality program involved in gender selection should take extra effort to provide detailed and specific information rapidly, and in an orderly and well organized fashion.

Gender selection patients are a group with needs and requirements distinct from general infertility patients that have differing goals and concerns that must be appropriately attended to. Our center dedicates a separate treatment unit to the care of gender selection patients. You will find the quality of the information provided you to be of the highest caliber and to be unique to gender selection.

We offered detailed descriptions of our program, DVD video descriptions of our unique services as well as personal counseling with our highly skilled nurses concerning the specific details involved in the preparation for your procedure. We provide a dedicated team devoted to assuring you a smooth, orderly and well managed treatment course, even when you may live nations or continents away!

Additional efforts on our part, such as assuring that emails are responded to within 24 hours, providing a dedicated travel desk that is keenly aware of the needs of those traveling to us from afar and a multi-lingual staff (seven languages including Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish and Swedish) along with the ability to refer those at a distance to a local center near home for any initial arrangements all demonstrate our commitment to your goal of a healthy pregnancy of the gender you preselect.

We suggest that you look for these landmarks from any program you may be considering. In the end, we are sure you will find our quality unmatched by any others.

YES! While success rates vary between programs, most programs employing standard sperm separation procedures report success rates in the 60-68 percent range. Success with IVF-PGD approaches 100% worldwide. Our program reports an 65-70% chance of achieving the desired gender outcome with sperm separation and a 99-100% assurance with IVF-PGD.

Yes and No. Sex selection being carried out on normally fertile couples who have already produced one or more offspring and are using the sperm separation procedure do not normally require fertility drugs. Our sperm separation/sex selection procedures are offered, however, to couples needing and undertaking fertility treatment as well. In these cases, the drugs normally used for these fertility procedures are combined with the sex selection procedure. In the case of IVF-PGD, and MicroSort with IVF, fertility drugs are used consistent with our normal IVF procedures.

Thousands of healthy babies have been born following sex selection procedures. In the case of the MicroSort method, MicroSort is a clinical trial to prove safety and efficacy. This procedure uses an investigational device, which is limited by federal law to investigational use. MicroSort has over 400 babies born with the MicroSort technology. The PGD method has been used to evaluate the genetic health of embryos for several years and the technology, while being developed carefully, has been proven effective.

No. Many studies have been carried out on artificial insemination procedures. These studies, looking at fresh, frozen, washed and isolated sperm show no increase in the occurrence of birth defects when compared to natural conception. In the case of IVF-PGD, while relatively new, there has thus far been noted no increased risk to the offspring.

It should be remembered that PGD is nearly 100% effective (99.9%) and is being studied closely to see how costs for the procedure can be reduced. For this reason, we now recommend PGD as the primary treatment option to couples requiring gender selection for where more than 1 child has been born of the gender opposite the gender now being sought by the couple. MicroSort is a clinical trial methodology.

Preparation for your procedure will occur well in advance of your treatment start date. Actual preparations can begin as early as just after your consultation with the Doctor and acceptance into the program. Our scheduling staff will work closely with you to assure that your procedure will be scheduled for a date most convenient for you.

Due to the large demand for our services, it is most important that you begin the scheduling process as soon as possible after deciding to undertake the PGD procedure. Once the specific details of your needs are obtained (local monitoring ad preparation with us in Los Angeles, preparation near home for those at a distance, etc.) our staff will arrange for the necessary pre-procedure laboratory testing.

If out of town, you will be provided with information on a monitoring center near you that will assist with the preparations. Our nurses can arrange and facilitate your appointments with these centers. Due to the special arrangements we have with many centers, we can nearly always assure that you will be provided appointments rapidly, even in centers with long wait lists for standard services.

We will arrange for your medications to be ordered and you will be given all preliminary instructions. For local patients, you will be scheduled for visits with us in accordance with he Doctor's orders and schedule plan for your treatment. You will be provided details about calling us with the onset of the menstrual period that occurs during the month your treatment is scheduled for. Once this occurs, we will assist with scheduling all of you planned monitoring visits.

Following retrieval of the eggs with IVF, the eggs are inseminated in the laboratory with sperm that has been filtered and processed for use with the PGD procedure. These sperm are then used to fertilize the healthy eggs by the embryologist.

After a few days growing in the incubator, the resulting embryos are gently biopsied to allow us to obtain a cell that may be used to determine the sex (gender) of each embryo. Once this information is available (usually within 24 hours), we can select only those embryos of the desired gender for implantation.

Options are offered for the disposition of the remaining embryos that include the ability to cryopreserve the embryos or offer the embryos for embryo adoption to other couples in need of embryos.

Two weeks after your embryos are returned to you, arrangements for a pregnancy test can be made. IVF-PGD sex selection is offered to all qualified (fertile) singles and couples. Couples from afar are invited to call our offices for information on our assistance packages for those traveling to us for treatment or to CLICK HERE FOR TRAVEL ASSISTANCE OR OR EMAIL OUR AFFILIATED TRAVEL SERVICE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

Yes. Frozen sperm are subject to the same evaluation studies as fresh sperm to determine suitability for use. If found to qualify, these sperm may be used for gender selection with the IVF-PGD treatment process.

Yes. We routinely offer sex selection options and aneuploidy (abnormal chromosome count) screening to couples undergoing In Vitro Fertilization for infertility reasons.

You may enroll or begin the registration process by simply calling us at:

Tel: (818) 728-4600
Tel: (800) 222-2802 (Toll free from anywhere in the U.S. or Canada)