This is Infertility is a bi-weekly podcast where we fuse narrative storytelling with experience and science to give you a new perspective on what it’s really like to go through a family building journey. Each episode dives into the emotional, physical, and financial burdens carried by those who experience infertility on their path to parenthood. Be it IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy, adoption, etc., the path is never the same and it can be long, painful, and lonely. It’s our mission to give those struggling a platform to be heard, a community connection, and an opportunity to raise awareness of the 1 in 6 who, for many reasons, struggle with infertility.

Episode 45: Genetic Testing: Is it Cost Effective?

The world of fertility is filled with acronyms – ART, IVF, IUI, ICSI, PICSI, SET, FET, HCG, LH, PCOS, AMH, FSH, OMG. But there is one acronym in particular that gets questioned often, PGT-A. It stands for pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy and it can make a real difference.

Everyone who decides to go forward with IVF has to make a decision on whether or not to go forward with PGT-A. The fact is, many people just aren’t sure if it would be worth the extra cost.

In this episode we hear from Dr. Shelby Neal who, along with the team at RMA of New Jersey, performed a study to answer one of the key questions most patients have when facing IVF, “When is it cost effective to use pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy?” and “Why should we do PGT-A?”

Guest: Dr. Shelby Neal from RMA of NJ

Host: Claire O’Neill, Patient Care Advocate (PCA) at Progyny

For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and RMA of NJ.

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Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com.

About the Speakers

Host: Claire O’Neill

Patient Care Advocate at Progyny and Certified Embryology and Andrology Lab Scientist

Guest: Dr. Shelby Neal

Third-Year Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Fellow with RMA in Basking Ridge, New Jersey

Host: Claire O’Neill

Patient Care Advocate at Progyny and Certified Embryology and Andrology Lab Scientist

Claire has spent two and a half years in a high-volume fertility clinic lab In NYC creating embryos using the method of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and have generated thousands of embryos during that time for patients struggling with infertility based on a range of different diagnoses. She has also worked on clinical research under the clinic’s Director of Andrology and Assisted Fertilization, primarily focusing on male infertility and has presented her research in international conferences in Reproductive Medicine in the United States and Europe. She has co-authored and first-authored several scientific papers published in peer reviewed journals on topics such as genetic testing of embryos, embryo development and the clinical outcomes associated, ICSI, and male fertility testing.

With Claire’s clinical experience, she is now at Progyny working with patients directly. She counsels them on how best to utilize their benefits and guides them through their fertility journey.

Guest: Dr. Shelby Neal

Third-Year Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Fellow with RMA in Basking Ridge, New Jersey

A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Dr. Neal went onto complete her OB/GYN residency at The Medical University of South Carolina. During her time at RMA, Dr. Neal has helped bring healthy babies to hopeful parents and conducted important research on embryo biopsy, the cost-benefit of embryo genetic testing, the microbiome and the benefit of 3D ultrasound in predicting IVF outcomes. Beginning August 2019, Dr. Neal will begin work as an Assistant Professor in the REI division at Wake Forest University, an academic medical center in Winston-Salem, NC, and see patients at the Center for Fertility, Endocrine and Menopause.