Objective: Although the primary goal of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is to increase pregnancy rates in women undergoing IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment, it has been suggested that it may also be used as an alternative to prenatal testing for Down syndrome.
Design: Trade-off questionnaires.
Setting: Two university centers for reproductive medicine.
Patient(s): Two hundred forty-four subfertile women.
Intervention(s): Scenarios with different pregnancy chances after PGS and with different risk reductions of a Down syndrome pregnancy were presented.
Main outcome measure(s): Willingness to have PGS performed in the various scenarios.
Result(s): In case PGS would discover all Down syndrome embryos without affecting pregnancy chances, 83% of the women would have PGS performed. If PGS lowered pregnancy chances from one in five to one in seven, 36% of the women preferred to have PGS performed. If PGS reduced the chance of a Down syndrome pregnancy with 80% without affecting pregnancy chances, 75% of the women would have PGS performed, and 31% of them would refrain from prenatal testing afterward.
Conclusion(s): Most women favor PGS for Down syndrome screening, even if it is not 100% sensitive. The acceptability depends on the effect PGS has on pregnancy chances, and, to a lower extent on its sensitivity to detect Down syndrome embryos.