Gender Selection
Sex Selection for Family Balancing
Your heart may be set on adding a boy or girl to your family. At the Fertility Centers of Orient Hosoital, we offer sex selection services that allow you to choose the gender before you become pregnant. If you already have a child and desire another baby of either the same or the opposite sex, then this service allows you to balance the number of males or females in your family.
What is Sex Selection?
Sex selection is the ability to increase the chances of having a child of a particular sex. The sex of a baby is determined by two chromosomes, one inherited from the mother and one from the father. These chromosomes are either X or Y. The egg from the mother carries an X chromosome, and the sperm from the father carries either an X or a Y. This is what determines the sex of the baby. If a Y-bearing sperm fertilizes the egg, the embryo is male. If an X-bearing sperm fertilizes an egg, the embryo is female. It is possible to have an abnormal arrangement of sex chromosomes, however, this is rare.
Technique for Sex Selection
Sex selection techniques have been around since ancient times but most have been more folklore than science. Now, advances in cellular and molecular biology involving preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) on biopsied embryos have allowed accuracy approaching 100% that the desired sex of the child will be achieved.
PGD is the most effective technique available for sex selection (99%). PGD uses in vitro fertilization (IVF), creating embryos in the laboratory where they divide. After three days following fertilization, one cell from each dividing embryo is removed and analyzed for X and Y chromosomes using molecular probes so that the sex of the embryo can be determined. Only embryos of the desired sex are transferred into the mother's uterus. The remaining embryos can be saved through cryopreservation (freezing) for use later or donated to others who have difficulty having children.
Consent
You will be requested to sign a consent form giving us permission to proceed and acknowledge that all methods have limitations. Pregnancy success including the desired sex cannot be guaranteed with 100% certainty.
Chances of Success
Human reproduction is not a very efficient process, as only 20% of couples attempting pregnancy on their own will achieve conception per month of trying. Pregnancy success rates with IVF are generally higher than this, but pregnancy is related to many factors, foremost of which is the woman’s age. Women under age 35 have a higher chance of pregnancy than women over age 35. In general, infertile women under age 35 may be expected to have a 50% to 60% chance of becoming pregnant, while those 36 to 38 years of age have between 35% to 45% and those 39 to 40 years old, only 20% to 30%. Women over age 40 have a lower chance of becoming pregnant and a higher chance of pregnancy loss (miscarriage) than those under age 40. The chance of a successful pregnancy with sex selection in women with a history of infertility or outstanding medical or surgical conditions may be less, while fertile women seeking sex selection may have higher success rates.
Confidentiality
We recognize that fertility-related treatment is a delicate, personal issue and believe that the care should be also. Our commitment to individualized care extends to all of our services, which are confidential. Our staff will release no information about you, unless so authorized.
