The not much discussed secondary infertility is described as a scenario where couples who have earlier experienced pregnancies but are now struggling to conceive naturally again. Both male and lady factors play a role and this situation might also occur due to different causes. One of these causes, in accordance to IVI Middle East Fertility Clinic, is genetic problems. This was the case for two married women, both in their 30s, who sought the intervention of IVI Middle East to have healthy babies. One was 35 years old and the other was 31 years old.

IVI Middle East, who runs modern clinics in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in UAE and Muscat in Oman, shared the patients case history pointing out that the 35-year-old patient, who is married to her second-degree cousin with first-degree female parental consanguinity, had gotten pregnant three times in the past. Two of these - the first and third pregnancies were born with mental disability. The second child was prematurely delivered with intrauterine fetal death, a medical term for stillbirth. The couple had gone through multiple failed In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) treatments.

On the other hand, the 31-year-old patient, who is married to her second-degree cousin with first-degree bilateral parental consanguinity, had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy. They had failed to conceive since the previous pregnancy in spite of undergoing IVF at some other clinic.

The affected person got here to our Abu Dhabi health center wishing to conceive again. For the first patient, based on extensive genetic evaluation on the children, we suggested her to undergo an IVF therapy with Pre-implantation Genetic Testing (PGT-A) for aneuploidy and PGT-M for monogenic disorder for gene mutations, Dr Laura Melado, IVF Specialist, IVI Middle East, Abu Dhabi said.

For the second patient, we conducted a compatibility genetic testing due to consanguinity. The combined consequences came out positive for glycine encephalopathy (GLDC gene), which means both the husband and the wife are carriers of this genetic mutation. Therefore, we encouraged an IVF treatment with PGT-A for aneuploidy and PGT-M for monogenic ailment for the GLDC gene, Dr. Laura added.
PGT is designed to notice and prevent the transmission of serious diseases to the offspring triggered by genetic and chromosomal alterations in embryos, earlier than their implantation and ensure that children are born free of hereditary diseases.

A frozen embryo transfer on the 35-year-old mother took place at the IVI Middle East hospital in October 2018 after undergoing an IVF/ICSI treatment with Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for genetic disorders. She delivered a healthy son in June 2019.
The 31-year-old patient, on the other hand, had gone through two cycles of IVF treatments with PGT-A and PGT-M in April 2016 and June 2018. She gave birth to a healthy daughter in 2016 and a healthy son in 2019.

We are proud of these two success stories. Their cases exhibit that hope is not lost for couples who are struggling from tough infertility conditions, whether primary or secondary. Their dream of having a healthy child is still within reach. Given the developments in reproductive medicine, we are supporting more and more couples to begin their parenthood journey and this is what IVI Middle East is all about. AS one of the leading reproductive medicine clinics in the region, we are completely dedicated to delivering positive outcomes with patient well-being at its core, Dr. Laura said.