PGD - CGH - is it of any use?

by Dr. Aniruddha Malpani

The newest IVF technology uses a fancy new technique which marries IVF and genetics.
This is called PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis)with CGH ( comparative genomic
hybridisation) and there are lots of press releases and articles touting this as the newest
breakthrough !

Doctors , like all big boys, love to play with new toys - and the newer the better ! This is
especially true when they have expensive new technological tools, which no other competitor
has. Doctors can be very competitive - and are always trying to be one-up on each other. An
easy way of being different is to use the newest technology - but the trouble is that never is
not always better ( though newer is always more expensive !)

Because these new tools are so expensive , doctors need to use them extensively, to justify
the expense - after all, they need to show the bean counters who pay their salaries and
bonuses that the new tool is cost effective !

The key question thoughtful patients need to be asking is - Is it really better? Or is it a

solution looking for a problem?

I think the truth is we really don't know right now! It's very likely to be useful for some
patients - but to expect it to be useful for everyone across the board is hoping for too much !
While it may seem logical to use PGD, unfortunately, biological systems are not always
logical! What seems to make sense in theory often does not

As a doctor in clinical practise, whose major focus is simply to get as many of my patients
pregnant as quickly as possible, I am quite conservative and prefer to wait and watch.

I follow Alexander Pope's dictum,

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Only time will tell how useful PGD-CGH is - but the enormous commercial pressures under
which IVF clinics operate - and the constant demand by patients that their doctor use the
newest and the latest breakthrough technology they read about in the newspaper means that
most IVF clinic will likely end up overusing it!
About: Dr. Aniruddha Malpani

Dr. Aniruddha Malpani is a leading consultant infertility specialist and practices with
his wife, Dr. Anjali Malpani, in Mumbai, India. Their clinic, Malpani Infertility Clinic
(www.drmalpani.com) has been rated as one of India's best (Outlook magazine survey);
and attracts patients from all over the world. Over 1500 babies have been born as a
result of their treatment all over the world. Dr. Malpani also founded HELP, the Health
Education Library for People (www.healthlibrary.com), which is India's first Consumer
Health Education Resource Center and the world's largest patient education library.

Contact: www.drmalpani.com, info@drmalpani.com

Blog: http://blog.drmalpani.com/

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