This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Genetic Counseling/ Testing/ Therapy  • Pregnancy and Breast Feeding  • Pediatrics  • Congenital Malformations  • Alert me on articles by topic

Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2007;298:731.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 128 words of the full text and any section headings.

Screening early stage embryos to avoid implanting those with genetic defects does not improve pregnancy rates of older women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and might even reduce the likelihood of a successful pregnancy, according to a multicenter, randomized controlled, double-blind trial by Dutch researchers (Mastenbroek S et al. N Engl J Med. 2007; 357[1]:9-17).

The investigators discovered that a group of 206 women randomly assigned to preimplantation genetic screening had, compared with a control group of 202 women, significantly lower ongoing (lasting 2 weeks or longer) pregnancy rates (25% vs 37%, respectively) and live birth rates (24% vs 35%, respectively).

"These results argue strongly against routinely performing preimplantation genetic screening as an adjunct to IVF in this group of women," the researchers said.