The Truth About Abnormal Embryos (Should You Discard Them?) with guest Meaghan Doyle

I'm so delighted to have Meaghan Doyle back on the show today to talk about the truth about abnormal embryos. Meaghan is a genetic counselor, and founder of DNAide, where she specializes in infertility, preimplantation genetic testing, and preconception genetic counseling. In this discussion, Meaghan and I are talking about the different kinds of embryo testing, what genetic test results should be used for, and why all fertility patients need to ask for reports on "abnormal" embryos. The truth is that sometimes, patients are told that their embryos are abnormal but never learn much more about the embryo itself. In some situations, those abnormal embryos can become healthy pregnancies and healthy, live babies, so it's important to learn as much as you can about all of the results of the genetic testing done on your embryos.

To set the stage for this conversation, I asked Meaghan what it means to genetically test an embryo, and here's what she explained:
"It means that we've taken a sample from the outer layer of the embryo, usually a few cells, and sent that sample to a genetic testing lab. And there's actually a few different types of genetic testing that can be done on that sample. Generally, when we say an embryo has had genetic testing, we're referring to a test called PGT-A. And so when we say an embryo has been genetically tested, usually that's what we're referring to."

So what happens when an embryo comes back as "abnormal," and what can you do if it happens to you? Tune in to hear Meaghan explain.

Thank you for joining me, Meaghan!
You can find Meaghan's site for DNAide Genetic Counseling here: https://www.dnaide.com/

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